Secret Heritage, New Destiny
by Empress of the Azure Skies
Summary: Buffy discovers her heritage and the truth about why some girls are potentials and others are not. But the Scoobies soon find out this is only the tip of the iceberg… Multi Crossover
1. Prophecy Girl

Title: Secret History, New Destiny

Author: DarkGoddess (aka Empress of the Azure Skies)

Summary: Buffy discovers her heritage and the truth about why some girls are potentials and others are not. But the Scoobies soon discover this is only the tip of the iceberg…

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the other series used in this story. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon and all others are property of their respective owners.

This story is on both my account Empress of the Azure Skies and my Twisting the Hellmouth account DarkGoddess.

--

Buffy tried to appear stoic, fearless, but her instincts were telling her to run, run as far away as she can and never, ever, look back. She was here, in the lair of the Master of Aurelius, one of the most infamous and powerful vampires in history. He had already shown that her crossbow would be useless against him.

She could barely see anything in the dim light and her mind made every sound, real and imagined, out to be him coming after her. She knew she would die tonight, the prophecy had said so. She thought she had accepted her fate, but apparently she was wrong.

Finally, she mustered the courage to speak.

"You know, for someone who's all powerful, you sure do like to hide."

"I'm waiting for you. I want this moment to last," the Master replied.

"Well, I don't."

She froze when she realized that he had somehow gotten behind her.

"I understand," he said.

She finally got her wits back and turned to face him. Seeing his grotesque, bat-like face this close up was certainly not something she needed. He easily knocked the crossbow out of her hands. He grabbed her by the neck. She knocked away his arm before he could choke her and she tried to get away. He held out his arm and she stopped. Her brain was screaming, commanding her muscles to move, but to no avail. She could only watch in horror as he approached. He moved behind her and casually took her jacket off of her.

Her fear reached its peak as she repeated over and over in her mind _I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die…_

"You tried," he said patronizingly, "You heard the prophecy that I was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything."

His voice dropped to a whisper, "You're the one that sets me free. If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that."

He bit her neck. The adrenaline pumping through her system made the pain almost nonexistent, but the realization that in a few seconds she would be dead hurts her more than any physical pain ever could. Every regret, everything left unfinished, every person she hadn't gotten to know, all of it flashed to the forefront of her mind.

The seconds dragged on for years until he finally let her go. She had no strength left and simply fell to her knees. He spoke, but it sounded like he was miles away. The last thing she heard was the splash as she fell into the water.

--

She was floating in darkness, but it was almost comforting. There was no fear, no pain, no feeling at all, only blissful oblivion.

_Am I dead?_ she thought.

"Yes," responded a male voice. It was a cold voice, as if indifferent to not just her plight, but to everything.

"Who's there?" she asked desperately.

"It is not necessary that you know," the voice replied.

"Where am I?"

"This is Mu. The closest word in your language would be 'nothingness.' It is the void between the land of the living and the land of the dead. It is a place for those who can go to neither Heaven nor Hell. I brought you here."

"Why?"

"Your friend is coming to save you, but he will arrive too late. I am here to offer you a choice: go on to the land of the dead where you can be at peace or return to the land of the living and face a life of constant fighting and grief."

She didn't even hesitate with her answer.

"I want to live. I want to hang out with friends and go to prom and get grounded and all that other stupid stuff that teenagers do. I'm not ready to die."

"Very well. I will give you the power to wield 'it.' Just be certain to leave no trace of your enemy behind."

A light appeared in the darkness. It grew larger and larger until she could clearly see the form of a giant dog in front of her. It was easily as big as a house with white fur and a large mane of gray fur stretching from its chest and tufts of gray far on its ankles, red eyes, and an odd blue crescent moon on its forehead. It regarded her for a second, then transformed into a ball of light flew toward her. It completely enveloped her and seeped into her. She began to have the sensation of falling and heard someone else's thoughts echo in her head:

_Know that this Sesshomaru is proud of you, my daughter_.

--

Buffy suddenly jerked up out of the puddle. She coughed as she tried to expel the water from her lungs. She reached for her chest, only to feel something sticking out of it. Instinctively, she grabbed it, pulling on it. She felt a strange sensation as more kept coming as she pulled.

She stared in amazement at what she had in her hand. It was a sword in a wooden sheath. She stood up and removed the sword from the sheath to see a katana of exquisite quality

"Tenseiga," she whispered examined the blade more closely.

She heard footsteps and was instantly alert. She relaxes when she recognizes the scents of the people approaching her: Xander and Angel.

_Wait _she thinks, coming to a realization _how can I smell them? How do I know what this sword's name is? How did it get in my chest?!_

"Buffy, thank God!" Xander panted as he and Angel entered the chamber, "I guess the prophecy was wrong."

The relief was plastered on his face. Buffy was surprised to see him with Angel considering his feelings for the vampire.

"No," she replied, "he killed me and escaped, but someone named Szechuan or something like that took me to this moo place and brought me back. Gave me this nifty sword, too."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head, Buff?"

"I'm fine. Come on, we need to stop him."

"You know where he went?" inquired Angel.

"No, but I can follow his scent," she responded.

This earned a confused look from Xander and Angel. She sheathed Tenseiga and moved passed Xander and Angel with a huge lunge, running after the Master's scent. She could hear Angel following behind with his vampire speed and Xander lagging far back. The scenery blurred as she sped passed it. She increased her pace until she reached the school and reached the roof with a single bound. Gloating over the library's skylight at the Scoobies fighting the tentacled demon was the Master himself.

"Yes, come forth my child. Come into my world."

"I don't think it's yours just yet,"

He turned to her, clearly shocked.

"You're dead!"

"I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you."

"You were destined to die! It was written!"

"Normally I would have a snappy come back for that, but I'm just really tired of looking at that ugly ass face of yours."

She drew Tenseiga with an audible 'shing.' She took a stance with the sword facing forward.

"Now, let's see what this baby can do."

"Your little toy won't save you," spat the Master.

He stretched out his arm again to hypnotize her. She lowered the sword to her side and walked over to him obediently. He smiled triumphantly as she was almost in his grasp. Just as he was about to grab her, she swung Tenseiga at his outstretched arm.

"You tried," she echoed patronizingly.

The sword glowed blue and then made contact with his body, but did not cut him. Instead, he exploded into dust which scattered everywhere the second it touched him. She looked in shock at the skeleton left behind. She hadn't expected that. She stood up, sheathing Tenseiga, and examined the body. Remembering Sesshomaru's words, she lifted her foot up and began stomping on it again and again, crushing it into fine powder that was carried away in the wind.

She could hear the triumphant cries of her friends below as the tentacle demon returned to the Hellmouth and the vampires retreated. She hurried down to join them.

"Buffy!" Everyone says at once.

"Yes, the Slayer returns alive and triumphant," she replied, "Giles, next time, if a prophecy says I'm going to die, make sure it says I'm going to stay dead before we all get worked up and everything."

"You died?!" asked Willow.

"Yeah, she drowned and then she said some things that didn't make sense," Xander said.

"What happened?" Giles inquired.

"Something that will probably require a whole bunch of research in some moldy, older than dirt books, but can we just not worry about it right now?" Buffy requested.

"Yes, I believe it can wait. I'm rather tired of being in this library."

"I agree," said Ms. Calendar, "Let's get out of here."

"I hear there's a dance going on at the Bronze," suggested Xander, "Could be fun."

"Yeah!" chimed in Cordelia.

"Hey, I'm game," interjected Buffy, "We did save the world after all, I think we deserve some party time."

They all made their way to the exit, but Buffy and Angel hung back a little.

"I'm starved," she complained, "I hope they have lots of food there."

Angel chuckled.

"I like your dress, by the way."

"Thanks, it's been a big hit with everyone."

--

Author's Note: Sorry about the length, I intended it to be longer. The rest of the chapters will be longer and there will be less copying from the show as I introduce more cross overs.

A final note: don't take everything you've read too literally.


	2. Tenseiga

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

--

Buffy picked at the waffles on the plate before her. She scraped her fork across them a few times before sighing and setting the fork down next to her plate. She looked around the kitchen, noting the first few rays of sunlight filtering in through the windows. She was up earlier than she would normally be, but ever since her death and resurrection she had found sleep to be in limited supply. His words kept echoing in her head:

_Know that this Sesshomaru is proud of you, __**my daughter**__._

So many questions floated around in her head. Was Hank Summers really not her father? If not, then who was this mystery man? Why was there a sword hidden in her chest? How long had it been there? How did she know its name? How did it kill the Master with a single strike to the arm?

She had left Tenseiga with Giles, hoping maybe he could find out something about it. It was odd, but she found that being separated from the sword just felt wrong.

"Buffy?" questioned a voice that seemed a thousand miles away.

She immediately snapped to attention. Her mother was staring at her with an expression of concern.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, "You've barely touched your food and you look like you aren't feeling well."

"It's nothing, I'm just not very hungry," she responded unconvincingly, standing up and grabbing her schoolbag off the table, "I just remembered that I need to go to school early for…ah…an extra credit thing."

"Do you want me to drive you?" Joyce asked, still obviously worried that something was wrong with her daughter.

"No, I should walk. You know, don't want to get out of shape!"

"Well, alright. Have a good day at school."

"See you later, Mom."

Joyce picked up Buffy's dishes, tossed the uneaten waffles in the trash and sat them in the sink. Buffy moved to walk to the door, but then stopped. She contemplated for a minute, then decided to ask the inevitable question.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Buffy," Joyce responded, turning back to her.

"You never…cheated on Dad did you?"

The expression on Joyce's face was a mixture of confusion and a little hurt. Buffy instantly wished she had never asked.

"Of course not! Why would you ask something like that?"

"Uhh, it's part of the extra credit. You know, like a random polling thing. I really need to go. Bye!"

She didn't even give her mother a chance to reply before she was out the door and on her way to school. As she walked outside, she was assailed with scents and noises. Every since then her senses of hearing and smell had become amazing. However, they were so new that she hadn't really had a chance to test them. Sadly her biggest plans for them involved eavesdropping on people talking about her.

Her thoughts returned to all the questions she needed answered. As more and more popped up, she increased her pace until she was going at a sprint. Her stomach was in knots when she reached the school building. She forced herself to walk calmly and slowly to the library.

As soon as she opened the library doors, she was greeted cheerfully by Giles.

"Buffy, you're here early," he noted.

"Well, I tend to motivated by finding a magic sword in my chest and having a disembodied voice tell me I'm his daughter," she responded, "Please tell me you've found something."

"I believe I have," he said.

He retrieved Tenseiga from his desk along with a book. Without thinking, she snatched the sword from him and immediately felt better upon feeling it in her grasp. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about it as he flipped through the book.

"I searched every book about mystical weapons I have in my collection, but I couldn't find it," he explained, still flipping pages "I eventually realized that perhaps the reason was that I was looking through books about Western weapons. I have a few books on Eastern demonology and magic and when I checked one of those, I found it very easily."

"So it's like Chinese?"

"Japanese actually," he commented.

He finally found the page he was looking for and showed it to her. On it was a drawing of Tenseiga and quite a bit text explaining it.

"This is translated from a scroll brought back by Christian missionary on some of their first voyages to Japan. I believe the Council has the original scroll. The sword's name translates as 'Heavenly Life Fang.' It was forged from the fang of a powerful demon lord known as the Great Dog General who bore the title Lord of the Western Lands. He died from injuries sustained in a battle with another demon and passed Tenseiga on to his eldest son, Sesshomaru, upon his death."

"That's the guy who said he was my dad!" Buffy interrupted.

"Yes, be patient, I'll get to him soon," Giles chided, "Tenseiga has several supernatural powers. It can resurrect the dead, which explains what happened to you, and it can kill creatures not of this world, such as undead beings like vampires and certain other entities. The sheath can also create a powerful barrier."

"Well that makes my job easier. Instant dusting of vamps and the power to bring back the dead."

"It doesn't quite work like that. While Tenseiga can resurrect a hundred people with a swipe, it can only resurrect each person once, thereby preventing someone from becoming immortal by using it."

"Well, that's a downer," came Xander's voice from the doorway, "I was starting to think Buffy's new sword would make it so that I don't have to worry about all danger from living on the Hellmouth."

Buffy and Giles both turned to see Xander and Willow entering the library.

"Hey guys," Buffy said, "you're just in time for the rest of the lecture."

"Hi Buffy," Willow responded, "That's so cool about your sword! But does this mean you're like half demon or something?"

As the question hung in the air, Buffy could feel her heart dropping. Was she half demon? She had blocked out the thought since Giles had begun talking, but with it put out like that, she just couldn't deny it anymore.

"Not that it matters!" Willow added quickly, "Cause we're your friends and we'd accept you no matter what! Even if you're a demon, or an alien, or a mutant and I'll shut up now."

She looked sheepishly at Buffy. The Slayer responded back with a smile. The prospect of having a demon for a father wasn't something she liked, but if she had her friends, that was all that really mattered. She was going to have to seriously grill her mom though.

"It's okay, Willow. I know you guys would accept me. And so what if my real dad's a demon, that just means all the creepy crawlies have something more to look out for."

"All right, enough mushy stuff," Xander said, "Let the G-man talk."

"Thank you Xander, but I must ask that you never call me that again," Giles said, "I was saving this for later, but I feel I must clear up the issue. Buffy you are not a half demon, but you do have demonic ancestry. Pure blooded humans can't handle the powers of the Slayer, so all potential Slayers have demon blood. However, they must be much more human than demon, so this Sesshomaru is likely your ancestor many generations back."

Buffy felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She hadn't realized how much the possibility of being the daughter of a demon had bothered her until she found out that she wasn't. She didn't quite understand why, though. She loved Angel, in spite of the fact that he was a vampire. She felt maybe it was because she needed to know she wasn't the very thing she fought against. She still had demon ancestry, but she didn't find that quite as big of a deal.

"Okay Giles, why haven't I heard any of this before?" Buffy asked.

"The Watcher's Council prefers that we not tell our charges lest it interfere with their ability to properly perform their duties. I felt that in this case it was best that I inform you."

"It's okay, Buff," consoled Xander, "I think I'd rather have some demon lord in my family than most of my relatives."

Buffy regarded her male friend. Comments like this often made her wonder just how bad his home life was. It seemed like it was one of those things that he and Willow kept just between the two of them. Then she frowned.

"Wait, how did you hear that Sesshomaru was a demon lord? You guys walked in when Giles was talking about Tenseiga."

He and Willow exchanged and look and then tried to avoid her gaze.

"Buffy…" began Willow, "it's not like we were eavesdropping…we just didn't know if you wanted us to hear and we're really sorry."

"That's okay guys," Buffy replied, "You should've known I wouldn't want any secrets from you guys. Now let's let Giles get back to what he was saying."

"As I was trying to explain," Giles continued, "Tenseiga has a twin, Tessaiga, which translates as Iron Crushing Fang. It was also forged from the Dog General's fang and can kill a hundred demons with a single swipe. Tessaiga was given to Sesshomaru's half human brother, Inuyasha. In addition, Sesshomaru had two other swords: Tokijin, Demon-Fighting God, and Bakusaiga, Blast Fang. Tokijin was forged from the fangs of an ogre, but later destroyed in battle. Bakusaiga wasn't forged; it simply appeared in his hand when Sesshomaru reached his full potential as a great demon."

"Okay, that still doesn't explain why Tenseiga was in my chest."

"I honestly can't say why, Buffy. I can only venture to guess that Sesshomaru or one of his descendants sealed it in one of their children so that it would be passed on through the family line until it was needed. When you met him in Mu he must have released the seal so that it could revive you."

"So what can you tell me about Sesshomaru?"

"So far I've only been able to hit the basic points from the information on Tenseiga. I'll need more time to research him, my resources on the demons of Japan are quite limited and I had been focusing primarily on the sword. The most I can say is that he was very powerful and both feared and revered. He took a human mate who bore him a single daughter and he disappeared after his mate's death. Given that you met him after you died, it's likely that he's dead, probably killed along with the rest of the pure demons."

"Okay, well let's crack open some books and…"

Buffy was cut off by the bell for class. She was filled with dismay at the prospect of having to go to class when she needed answers.

"Oh no!" Willow exclaimed, "We're gonna be late!"

Buffy reluctantly handed Tenseiga back to Giles and gathered up her things.

"Bye, Giles," she said.

"Later, G-man!" added Xander.

As the three of them headed for the door, Buffy swore she heard Giles mutter something about kids these days. She forced herself to suppress a chuckle. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.

--

Giles sighed and began cleaning his glasses. He had a very bad feeling about things to come.

"What's the matter, Ripper? Things are getting interesting. Of course, I guess there's never a dull moment on the Hellmouth" said a voice behind him.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" he inquired, not even turning around to face the source of the voice.

"Eh, it's what they called you when I first met you."

"Why don't you just go get yourself some apples from behind my desk? I have research to do and I don't need you bothering me."

--

That night, Buffy wasn't feeling well. She wasn't sick, just very upset. They had found almost nothing about Sesshomaru. She didn't know why she needed to know about him so badly, but it was becoming almost like an obsession. What made things worse was that she would be leaving to spend the summer with her dad without any access to research materials and she really couldn't find any way out of it. In fact, she really was excited about seeing him. Giles had promised he'd get more books from the Council over the summer.

She nearly laughed at her desire to actually do research.

"I must be going crazy," she said, "And I think talking to myself is the first sign."

As she crawled into her bed and covered herself with her blankets, she thought for sure there was no way she could sleep. Yet before she even realized she was asleep. It wasn't a sound sleep, though. She had strange dreams and she tossed about fitfully all night.

_She stood on a vast plain. The sky overhead was pitch black, but her way was light by the countless glowing Jack O'Lanterns. All of them had funny and whimsical faces carved into. She walked forward, unsure of where she was going__. As she walked further, the faces on the pumpkins became more and more monstrous and frightening. At last she reached her destination, a huge tree. As she approached, she noticed the tree didn't have leaves, but cards and there was a pentagram carved into the tree. Beneath the tree was a Jack O'Lantern with two faces. The Jack O'Lantern exploded and everything was black._

_She sat upon a heart shaped throne and watched the Defender of Man do battle with monsters. He carried a sword too large for him, but despite this he slew all the monsters that assailed him. She screamed at him to flee, that he would die if he continued this foolishness. He only shook his head and continued fighting. She screamed louder and louder until in despair he cast away his blade. She tried to run to him, but no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't reach him. Just as the beasts closed in, a new ally appeared. Their bodies glowed and became one, a true White Knight._

_There was an angel with a devil chained to him. She drew the angel close and he smiled and was no more. The devil howled into the night and ran to sow the seeds of destruction. She fought the devil, but could not kill it. As they struggled on a bridge over the bowels of Hell, the angel returned, now a god. The devil was at last cast into __the lake of fire._

_She stood before a mirror that cast two reflections. One was goddess who carried the light of good with her. The other was a demon that stalked the twilight. She reached her hands out to both of them. The goddess extended hers, but before she could reach, the goddess fell apart. The demon also reached forward, but the nature of the gesture was indecipherable._

_On the horizon, a green sun rose. The Beast pursued it, but could not see it. As the green sun was directly over her head, the Beast spotted it and tried to devour it. She fell over and could not move. As the Beast's jaws began to close, she flew up and slew the Beast. The Reaper came for the sun, but she offered herself in its stead. As she left, the green sun turned into sand and fell down to earth._

_She looked through the mists and huge form loomed over her._

"_There is still much to be done, you cannot yet rest."_

_--_

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed. The next chapter will pick up at the beginning of season 2 and hopefully it will be longer. I appreciate constructive criticism.


	3. When She Was Bad, School Hard

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Note: The Inuyasha manga wrapped up last week. I'm going to offer fair warning: later chapters of this story will have spoilers so I'm going suggest that you Inuyasha fans either prepare to be spoiled or head over to One Manga and finish out the series.

--

Xander and Willow were walking near a cemetery. Xander was enjoying an ice cream cone, while Willow just seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere…and the alone time with Xander. Being with him felt so right, as if they should spent every night until they died just like this. She knew she was in love.

But something about it also felt fundamentally wrong. Like things _should _be like that, but at the same time it was like she wasn't looking at it from the right angle. It infuriated her that the answer was dancing around her like some mischievous little faerie just out of her each. If she could catch that faerie everything would fall into place, but she knew, just _knew_, that it would bite her is she caught it.

Her introspection was interrupted by Xander's voice breaking the silence.

"So, a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead are about to be executed," began Xander, "The brunette is standing in front of the firing squad and they ask her if she has any last words and she yells 'tornado!' While everyone is distracted looking for a tornado, she got away."

"And let me guess, the redhead yells 'tidal wave' and gets away and the blonde yells 'fire' and they shoot her," Willow responded.

Xander gave her an irritated looked.

"No, the redhead yelled out the punch line to an amazingly hilarious joke," he quipped, "and the blonde yelled…vampire!"

"Okay the first part I get, but is the blonde Buffy or something?"

"No, there's a vampire coming right at us!"

"Oh, OH!"

She turned to see a vampire in full game face strolling up to them. The scary smile on his face seemed to signify that he wanted them to run just so could enjoy the chase. She tensed, adrenaline gushed through her body. Her options were narrowed down to the two most primal: fight or flee. That was it.

The first option was definitely not viable. An entire summer without supernatural activity had made them complacent. They walked about at night without stakes, crosses, or even small vials of holy water.

"Run!" Xander yelled at her.

They turned and prepared to run away from the vampire, only to hear the characteristic growl of a vampire being dusted. They looked back to see Buffy wielding a wooden stake.

"Hey guys!" she greeted them with a huge smile.

"Buffy!" Willow and Xander both shouted and ran up to hug her.

"Whoa guys, it's nice to see you, too," she said as they enclosed her in a crushing embrace.

"We missed you!" Willow chimed.

"Yeah, looks like you got sloppy while I was gone. You don't even have a cross on you."

"It's been a slow summer, Buff," Xander replied, "that's the first vamp we've seen since you dusted the Master."

"How was your summer?" Willow inquired.

"Nothing paranormal for me either, just a nice healthy dose of shopping and partying. Did you guys find out anything new about Sesshomaru or Tenseiga while I was gone?"

"Not really, Giles contacted the Watcher's Council about it, but he keeps avoiding telling them exactly why he needs information on them so they keep refusing to send him anything," Willow answered.

Willow thought she noticed Buffy's expression begin to change for an instant, but then that huge smile returned.

"C'mon," she said, "let's go see if Giles is still up having a cup of tea or whatever British people do at night. I missed him, too. Besides I think I'll feel better with my one hit kills vampire sword back."

"Lead the way, mighty Slayer," Xander said, bowing a little and extending his arms.

As they walked toward Giles apartment, Willow mulled Buffy's statement over. Giles was her Watcher and had become almost like a second father to her. In fact, he was becoming more and more like a father figure to all three of them with Willow's distant parents and Xander's alcoholic father and neglectful mother. Still it seemed unusual to her that Buffy would want to go to Giles' place this late after just getting back when it could wait until school started. First thing she wanted when she got back had been that sword, Tenseiga. Willow still remembered how reluctant Buffy had seemed to give it to Giles to research over the summer. She was like a little kid clinging to a security blanket. It worried Willow a little.

She set these worries aside as she walked side by side with her two best friends into the night.

--

A group of vampires sat around Collin the Anointed One in an abandoned warehouse. The young vampire had been seething with rage ever since the Master's defeat. He had hoped to resurrect the Master, but the Slayer had the foresight to destroy his remains. The Slayer, that damnable bitch who had ruined everything. He wanted to violate her in ways that someone who looks like him really shouldn't know about, to slaughter everyone who had ever known her while she watched, and most of all, he just wanted her to die.

"Absalom!" he shouted at his most devoted acolyte.

"Yes, most high Anointed One?" Absalom replied.

"Are you sure, completely positive, that there is no way to bring the Master back without his body?"

"While we would all be exultant at the chance to return our most unholy Master to this world…"

"Enough!" he declared, standing up "You're all completely useless! The Slayer lives and the Master is dead! We cower in this dank place like vermin waiting for the cat to sniff them out when we should be rejoicing as the world burns and the humans scream in fear and agony! The Order of Aurelius, once feared and respected, is now nothing more than a shade of its former self! Every single one of you is worthless!"

To emphasize his point, he snapped a piece of wood off a crate below him with his small hand and used to stake a random minion. All of the vampires present, most at least twice his size, looked at each other with expressions of definite fear that the Anointed One might decide they weren't worth keeping around.

Collin continued to stare at the dust left from the staked vampire. His right hand was squeezing so tightly around the stake that his hand was bleeding and the piece of wood was breaking.

"Kill her," he ordered, not bothering to look up "I don't care what it takes, I don't care if every single one of you has to die for it to happen, just KILL HER!"

"Your greatness?" Absalom ventured cautiously.

Collin's face flashed to his game face as he quickly turned to him.

"Was something about that unclear?!" he snarled.

"No, Anointed One. I was just going to suggest that we wait until the night of Saint Vigeous when our powers will be at their peak."

Collin mulled this over, then his face returned to its human appearance. The stake fell from his hand and he returned to his seated position.

"Very well," he said, "On the night of Saint Vigeous you will go after the Slayer. If one of you manages to kill her, he will take the Master's place as the leader of the Order of Aurelius. Until then, do not venture far to feed and if you encounter the Slayer, do not try to fight her. We can't spare a single man."

--

So the days passed relatively uneventfully for the Hellmouth. Buffy, Willow and Xander fell back into the usual routine. They got up, went to school, went on patrol, slew the occasional vampire, prevented a classmate from cutting of Cordelia's head and putting it on the body of a girlfriend for his Frankenstein monster-like brother, went to bed, and repeated.

This little cycle was interrupted by a true monster principal Snyder. He was forcing Buffy along with a delinquent named Sheila to prepare the school for Parent-Teacher night to make amends for skipping class. But hey, no big! So she adds manner making and decorating to her schedule, she's got her friends to help her. The cycle kicks back in.

They had no idea that creatures of lust, fear, pain, blood, and love where about to break this routine.

Headlights blurred through the roads to the city of Sunnydale. In the dead of night, while the Slayer and her friends slept snug in their beds the creatures came, by automobile no less. The car, a 1958 Dodge Desoto FireFlite crashed carelessly into the sign bearing the words "Welcome to Sunnydale." Perhaps this was an improvement considering the lies of a happy, normal community it told.

Out of the car came a bleach blond head. Spike in all his bad boy glory emerged from the driver's side. He casually checked his surroundings, retrieved a cigarette from his coat, lit it, and took a deep drag.

"Home, sweet home."

--

Back in the warehouse, Collin is giving a speech to his subordinates. They all sit in wrap attention as he paces back and forth.

"The night of Saint Vigeous is soon. It is of the utmost importance that none of you get yourself killed before then," he said, "therefore none of you will be going anywhere unless it is absolutely necessary. Your brothers who disobeyed my orders found out what it means to do battle with the Slayer. If you grow hungry, sate yourself with the thought of the blood of the Slayer."

The attention of the Aurelius vampires was taken by a stranger entering the building. Spike paid them no heed, instead he just walked in like he owns the place, his iconic coat sweeping behind him.

"You know, you've gotta be careful with Slayer's blood," he sneered, "It's a powerful aphrodisiac. One of your boys here might take a liking to soft little boys like yourself."

Absalom stood up, indignant.

"How dare you speak to the Anointed One in such a way?" he demanded, "I should rip your insolent throat out!"

Spike simply ignored him in favor of the apparent leader.

"So, you're the big bad around here, huh? Well, the name's Spike and I've come to take care of your little Slayer problem."

"You can kill her?" Collin asked.

"I don't like to brag, but I've taken out a couple Slayers in my time," he paused, then laughed, "Who am I kidding? I love to brag! There was this Chinese Slayer back during the Boxer Rebellion, put up one hell of a fight. She even managed to knick me when some magic sword and gave me this scar. Then there was this Slayer in New York…"

He trailed off as he heard footsteps. He quickly turned to see Drusilla entering the doorway. His concern was written all over his face.

"Dru, you shouldn't be out and about. You're too weak," he said as the mad vampire drew close to him.

"Look at all the people," she commented wistfully, then turned her attention to Collin "Such a pretty little boy. He has power."

"Yeah, he's in charge around those parts. Anointed or some such nonsense," Spike answered.

Drusilla leaned close and put her hand on his cheek.

"Do you like daises? I plant them, but they always die. Everything I put in the ground withers and dies."

She appears to lose interest and stares off.

"Spike, I'm cold."

Spike quickly put his coat on her and drew her close.

"I'm a princess," she declared.

"That you are, love," he replied.

She nicked his cheek with fingernail and licked off the blood. They came together as if to kiss, but then turn to face Collin.

"Drusilla and me are movin' in," he told them, as Drusilla pulled away from him and began moving around, "I'll take care of your little Slayer problem, just keep your little lackeys from trying anything sneaky. Deal?"

Collin nodded, "Fine."

Drusilla bowed her head and put her hands on her temples.

"I can't see her. The Slayer," she said, "It's dark where she is. Kill her. Kill her, Spike. Kill her for princess?"

"I'll tear her to shreds, love."

--

The Scoobies were at the Bronze, trying to unwind a little. When she had first gotten her enhanced senses, this probably would've been an unpleasant experience dealing with all the noise and, to a lesser extent, the smells. However her time in LA had forced her to train herself to just filter all this sensory input out and she had become quite adept at doing so. Giles had warned them that Saturday was the night of Saint Vigeous, some big shot vampire who had caused a whole lot of destruction. Buffy just wanted to make it through Parent-Teacher, then she would worry about the potentially apocalyptic night. Right now she was practicing her French with Willow (and failing spectacularly) while Xander danced awkwardly by himself.

She gripped Tenseiga (sitting discreetly next to her) to give her some comfort. Having it with her always made her feel better, safer, like someone was looking at for her. Really, what did she have to worry about on Saturday? Tenseiga could bring a hundred people back to life in a single swipe, so logically it could kill hundred vampires in a single sweep, vampire holiday or no vampire holiday.

"C'mon guys, I look stupid dancing all by myself out there," Xander interrupted their study session, "You've been studying for like twelve minutes."

"No wonder my brain's fried," Buffy said, "Let's go Willow, it'll be good for us."

Buffy got up, leaving Tenseiga in its spot. She reasoned that as a magic sword it wouldn't allow anyone to steal it. They dragged a reluctant Willow out onto the dance floor. She and Xander danced wildly, while Willow was doing something that could only marginally be described as dancing.

Buffy was having fun, but she really wished Angel had showed up. He had said that he might be here tonight, but even so she had gotten her hopes up. She pushed away all thoughts of potential grounding and fighting supercharged vampires as she lost herself in the music.

"Where's the phone? I need to call the police. There's some big guy out there trying to bite somebody," some said.

Buffy instinctively headed for the door upon hearing this. She spared her friends a quick glance, jerked her head toward the table where she and Willow had been sitting, and then hurried outside.

Outside she found a vampire about to bite a young woman. Buffy quickly grabbed him and pulled him off of her. The young woman just stood there, frozen in shock.

"Get out of here!" Buffy yelled.

The young woman complied, running back into the building.

"Slayer," the vampire spat.

"Slayee," Buffy responded.

"I'll prove to the Anointed One that I don't need Saint Vigeous to kill you."

"That brat's still around? I'll have to pay him a visit after I dust you."

She kicked him in the stomach, only for him to grab her foot. He twisted, but she simply jumped and spun, breaking his grip. She landed on her feet and delivered a few punches. She ducked as he attempted to retaliate.

"Buffy!" came Willow's voice from behind the combatants.

Using the temporary distraction, Buffy delivered a kick to the vampire's "weak point" and did a back flip. Willow tossed Tenseiga to Buffy. The angry vampire charged as she drew the sword from its sheath. When he came close, she slashed the sword at his neck. The blade glowed blue and made contact with his neck. It didn't decapitate him, Tenseiga is a sword that doesn't cut, it just caused him to turn to dust immediately upon making contact with his body.

A blond figure stepped out of the shadows, slowly clapping his hands. Buffy, Willow, and Xander looked in confusion at the black clad stranger.

"Well done, Slayer," he congratulated, "that guys was really getting on my nerves."

Buffy tensed slightly and readied Tenseiga.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"They call me Spike, the rest you'll find out Saturday."

"What happens Saturday?"

"I kill you."

Buffy was left speechless as he walked off into the shadows. A strange feeling had begun to creep into her. Without realizing what she was doing, she lifted up the sword. It was glowing more brightly than ever before. She swung the sword downward and the alley was filled with a wave of intense blue light.

"Wow Buffy!" Xander exclaimed, "What was that?!"

She blinked and then regained her senses.

"I have no idea," she answered, wondering what had come over her just then.

"Looks like you took care of him!" Willow said.

"Maybe. I think I might've heard him jump onto on of the rooftops. At least we know his name so we can research him in case he did get away."

--

The dreaded Parent-Teacher night had finally arrived. Buffy fidgeted over the lemonade she made. She just had to keep her mom away from Snyder and everything would be all right. The thought of that troll tell her mom about what a "delinquent" she was terrified her more than this Spike, even if, according to Giles, he had already killed two other Slayers.

She had sent her mom off with Willow to talk to her teachers. Buffy herself had tried to divert Snyder by "accidentally" spilling lemonade on him and then trying to convince him she didn't speak either. It didn't appear like either tactic had worked.

To top things off, Queen C had begun lecturing her about her inability to properly utilize cosmetics.

However her spirits lifted as she saw Willow and her mother approaching the punch table.

"Well," said Joyce, "I think I've seen every one of your classrooms and all of your teachers seemed to have stepped out just before I got to each of them."

Behind Joyce Willow was smiling, clearly proud of what a good job she had done. Buffy's heart sinks as she sees Snyder coming.

"Uh, you should definitely go see the boiler room, that's where all the interesting stuff is," Buffy suggested.

Unfortunately Snyder arrived before Willow can whisk Joyce off. This time Buffy's heart didn't sink, it fell out of body completely. Joyce politely extended her hand to him, but he ignored the gesture.

"Hi, I'm Joyce Summers, Buffy's mom," she greeted.

"Principal Snyder," he stated brusquely, "We need to talk. My office is right this way."

As he carted Joyce off, Buffy felt like she just might track down some vampires and see if they felt like a Snyder snack.

"He didn't look happy," Buffy commented, as if that man ever looked happy.

"But we did such a good job," Willow whined.

"My guess," snarked the smirking Cordelia, "You'll still be grounded at our ten year reunion."

Maybe the vampires would like a nice side of Queen C, too.

"Cordelia," said Willow, "why don't you go have some lemonade."

After Cordy walked off, Buffy and Willow spent what felt like an eternity in strained silence, waiting. Joyce emerged with Snyder from his office and walked up to her daughter.

"In the car, now," she ordered.

Buffy and Willow exchange a look and then Buffy followed after her mother. Just as they're about to leave the room, Buffy heard the sound of breaking glass. She turned to see vampires jumping into the school through the windows. The vampires began to line themselves up. Out in front of them was Spike.

"What can I say? I couldn't wait," he announced.

Acting on instinct Buffy grabbed her mother's hand and began pulling her. She knew she had to get to the library and get Tenseiga. Willow, Cordelia, Snyder and several others followed them. Meanwhile other people were running all around in panic. As she got to the hallway she could hear Spike giving orders.

"Nobody gets out! Especially not the girl! And look out for her sword!"

She didn't have time to think about this as she ran toward the library. She looked back to see a couple of vampires giving chase, but it didn't matter as the library doors came into sight. Giles, Xander, and Ms. Calendar emerged from the door to see what all the commotion was about.

"What's going on?" demanded Giles.

"Spike and he brought an army. I need Tenseiga," Buffy replied

She herded the group into the library and then rushed in to retrieve her sword. Just as she grabbed it, two vampires came in through the double doors. They smirked at the apparently cornered humans.

Buffy quickly drew Tenseiga and tossed the sheath aside. The sword glowed blue as she charged. She pushed on one of them out into the hallway and stabbed at his stomach and dusted him. The other attempted to sneak up and grab her from behind, but she simply spun and hit it with him with the blade, sending him to join his friend.

She returned to the library and looked at the small crowd of people.

"I, uh, chased them off," she lied for the benefit of those out of the loop, "Barricade the doors and don't let anyone in. I'll take care of the rest."

As if to set the mood, the power went out, but the emergency lights kicked on.

"Buffy, you can't go out there. It's too dangerous!" Joyce declared.

"Mom, I have to. I'm the only one who can stop them. You have to trust me on this" Buffy answered.

"I'll come with you," Giles offered valiantly.

"No, you'll be in my way if I have to protect you. Just stay here and protect these people."

Her mother and father-figure both looked unhappy about this, but she ignored it.

"Just trust me, both of you. I can do this," she said.

She headed quickly through out the doors and immediately spotted three vampires heading her way. They charged at her and held Tenseiga out in front of her, the blade glowing intensely. When they got close she thrust the sword forward at the middle vampire. He predictably ducked and she quickly brought her sword down. It made contact with his head and he was dust. She spun around in a circle to take out the other two.

She stopped for a second to see if she could hear (or smell) any more vampires. Distantly she could hear Spike's voice.

"Here, Slayer, kitty, kitty, kitty. Why don't you come out and play?"

She immediately headed in the direction of the voice.

As she passed the lounge she noticed Sheila, the delinquent who hadn't helped her prepare for Parent-Teacher night at all, standing there.

"Buffy, what's going on? There are all these weird guys!" she said.

"Sheila, are you okay? Where have you been?"

"Sorry I'm late."

As Sheila approached her, Buffy noticed something about her. She smelled wrong, like…a vampire.

"And I'm sorry, too" Buffy responded.

Sheila paused.

"For what?"

"For not being able to protect you."

"What are you…"

She's cut off, literally, by the Slayer rushing at her and pushing the glowing blade of Tenseiga into her abdomen. Buffy was about to leave to find Spike when she noticed the body of a dead man. Tenseiga immediately began giving off a pulse like a heartbeat. The beat grew more intense as she walked over to the body.

As she stared at the body, she noticed that she could see small, almost reptilian creatures on the body. She lifted the sword and swiped it at these creatures, causing them to dissolve. Immediately the man sat up, his broken neck completely healed. He looked very confused.

"Go hide," Buffy said to him "I won't be able to do that again."

She hurried off after Spike before he could ask any questions. She just hoped the vampires were killing rather than turning if they got their hands on humans. Not even Tenseiga could bring back vampires.

After a few wrong turns she found him. He was flanked by several minions.

"Well, the Slayer shows herself! Ready to die, girlie?" Spike said, "I'll make it quick."

Buffy could feel the same feeling she got the night she met Spike. Tenseiga was shining brightly enough to illuminate the gloomy hall. Spike's eye widened a little bit at seeing that attack which had almost killed him.

"Sorry, Spikey, but I didn't put myself through the hell of putting together Parent-Teacher night to let some low life vampire scum like you kill me," she retorted, lifting her blade "those other two Slayers were probably just not very good at their jobs. I'm very good at my job, so I guess that means the only who's going to die tonight is you."

"Get 'er," he shouted at his minions.

They came at her as he made a prudent getaway.

"Coward!" she yelled after him.

She brought Tenseiga down, filling the hallway with blue light. All of the vampires turned to dust just as Spike rounded the corner, narrowly escaping death again. She briefly thought about giving chase, but decided it would be better to look for people who needed to be resurrected and any vampires still lurking around the school.

--

Spike was angry, very angry. This Slayer didn't fight like the other two. There was no trading of blows, nothing to get the blood going, just that sword. The Chinese Slayer had a magic sword, too, but not of the variety that killed a vampire on contact or create a giant wave of vampire killing energy.

Drusilla was snuggled up close to him, listening to him recount the night's events.

"I guess I should go make nice with the annoying one," he said.

"He doesn't like to play," she replied.

Spike approached to vampire boy and fell to his knees. The rage was written on the Anointed One's face.

"You failed!" he said, "And not once, but twice you disobeyed my orders and went after her prematurely!"

"I, uh, offer penance," he replied.

"Penance? Penance?!" Collin asked indignantly, "You should offer your miserable life! You've ruined everything!"

"If I had to it over again…know what? I'd it all the same except first I'd do this!"

He stood up and grabbed Collin.

"Put me down, you bastard! One of you stop him!"

One of the minions attempted to do just that, but Spike easily knocked him out of they way.

He tossed Collin unceremoniously into a cage and locked it.

"From now on, I'm in charge," he announced, grabbing the chain to hoist up the cage, "We're going to be doing a lot less ritual, and a lot more fun."

The Anointed One was screaming "NO!" over and over again as Spike pulled the cage up toward a beam of sunlight entering the warehouse. When it finally reached the light filtering in, Collin screamed as his body catches on fire.

Spike and Drusilla just laugh as the Anointed One turns to ashes.

--

Author's Notes

I hope you like what I did with the Anointed One, I wanted to give him a bit more personality than he had in canon. Even if you didn't like it, he's dead now, so it doesn't matter.

I hope I did all right on the fight scenes, I'm not so good with those.

Thanks for reading. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Next Chapter: Halloween and another crossover


	4. Halloween, Part I

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

--

As the Scoobies walked down the halls of Sunnydale High, Buffy was very much considering doing something bad, wholly deserved to Cordelia. Not only did Queen C almost get her eaten by a reptile demon worshipped by some fraternity, but now she was hitting on Angel. Of course, she wouldn't be interested anymore if she knew that Angel was really a vampire, but it still made Buffy angry.

"Looks like Snyder's in charge of the volunteer Halloween safety program this year," commented Willow.

Buffy turned to see their principal holding a clipboard and harassing some random girl.

"He has a very interesting take on the volunteer concept," noted Xander.

"So what's the deal?" asked Buffy as the reached Willow's locker.

"Oh, a bunch of little kids need people to take them trick-or-treating. Sign up and get your own pack of sugar-hyped little runts for the night," Xander answered.

"I think I'll stick with vampires."

Buffy heard Snyder coming up behind her and briefly considered acting surprised and hitting him, but decided against it. When he placed his hand on her shoulder, she didn't give him the satisfaction of making her jump.

"Ms. Summers," the troll drawled, "just the juvenile delinquent I was looking for."

"Hello, Principal Snyder," Buffy greeted flatly.

"I bet Halloween's a big night for you. Tossing eggs, keying cars, bobbing for apples," he said, "one pathetic cry for help after another."

He led her over to the sign up table with Willow and Xander following.

"Well not this year, missy," he finished.

For about the hundredth time since Snyder became principal, Buffy was hoping that she would soon find out that he was actually a demon in disguise and that she would get to slay him. For now, she just had to deal with it.

"Gosh, I'd love to sign up, but I recently developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and can tragically no longer hold a flashlight," she lied.

Ignoring her, he held up the clipboard and pen, "The program starts at four, the children have to be back at six. Costumes are mandatory."

Reluctantly she gave in and signed it. It beat having to deal with him harassing her about it. Not quite satisfied, he held the clipboard up to Willow and Xander. They too reluctantly signed it.

--

Later, the trio was browsing in the new costume shop, Ethan's, for their costumes. Buffy was intent on dressing like a noblewoman to impress Angel. Willow just wanted a classic too keep from drawing too much attention to herself. Xander, still a little upset that earlier that day Buffy had emasculated him by defending him from Larry, was getting a gun to go with the fatigues he already had at home.

Buffy was the first to find what she was looking for on a mannequin. It was a frilly, red dress very similar to one worn by a noblewoman in a Watcher's journal that she and Willow had "borrowed" from Giles. If that didn't impress Angel, nothing would.

"Let me help you with that," someone offered.

She looked to see the shop's owner, Ethan.

"Thank you," she said, "it's…"

"Magnificent," he finished, holding the dress up to her, "Yes, I know."

He had her turn to look at herself in the mirror.

"My. Meet the hidden princess. I think we found a match. Don't you?" he commented.

She had to admit she looked just like a princess, but…something seemed off. The dress was beautiful, but not quite for her.

"Thanks, but I'm not sure this is quite what I'm looking for. I'll just keep looking," she replied.

He looked quite surprised by this.

"All right, but you look stunning in this. I'll put it behind the counter for you, anyway. If you need help, don't hesitate to ask."

With that he went to help other customers and she continued her search.

--

Willow was having more luck than Buffy. She had been looking at the ghost costumes, but something else had caught her eye. Sitting in a display case was some kind of wand. It was pink with a circle at the end, a yellow star in the circle, and a pair of small white wings on the sides of the circle. At first she had thought it was some cheap plastic thing, but closer inspection revealed that it wasn't, but she wasn't sure exactly what it was made of. All she knew was that she had to have it, she could find the rest of the costume later.

"Ahh, I see you've found something," a voice said behind her.

She jumped and quickly turned to see Ethan standing there.

"Yeah, I-uh, i-it's really-uh," she stammered.

"This is a very nice piece," he commented as he retrieved it from the display case, "I purchased it during a recent trip to Japan at a quaint little shop. The owner let me have it for practically nothing, she said it was 'hitsuzen' that I have it, as long as I passed it on to its rightful owner."

"H-hitsuzen?" she asked.

"There's really no exact translation in the English language, unfortunately. The best translations are probably 'fate' or 'inevitability.' Here, hold it, see how it feels."

Willow took the wand from him. As soon it was in her hands, she felt something surge through her. She didn't care how much it cost, that wand would be hers. It belonged to her.

Ethan smiled as her grip tightened.

"I think I've found the person the store owner was talking about," he commented, "I have a seifuku that would go perfectly with that."

Willow nodded dumbly as she followed him, still clutching her want lest someone else try to buy it.

--

Xander had found his toy gun almost immediately, but he had spotted something else. It was a suit of white plastic armor with a cape that was white on the outside and blue on the inside. It also came with a sword and a helmet that left the face exposed.

"A wonderful piece isn't it?" asked Ethan from behind him, "it's one of my personal favorites."

Xander jumped a little and then turned to face the man.

"Yeah, but I'm just gonna take the gun, I've got some fatigues from an army surplus store. Besides, I don't have much cash on me."

"Now, now. It is my policy that everyone should have the right costume. Halloween is a night for fun after all. Just pay me what you can and promise me you'll have fun and it's yours."

--

Buffy was becoming more and more disheartened as she passed rack after rack of costumes. She just couldn't find something liked. Just as she was about to go to the counter to just buy the dress, she spotted it.

On a mannequin was a multilayer kimono with some kind of furry white boa on it. The outermost kimono was blue and white with white butterflies on it. Sitting on the mannequin's head was a grayish white wig with two long pigtails and two locks that would hang in front of the ears if there had been any ears on the mannequin.

"It's perfect," she breathed.

"Ah, I should've expected that one to catch your eye," Ethan said, walking up to her after finishing his sales with Xander, "Still a noble, but from a different part of the world. I think it does suit you a bit better. European noblewomen were airheads who were supposed to look pretty and have babies. While Japanese noblewomen did mostly the same, they were at least intelligent. You know the first novel was written by a Japanese noblewoman."

"How much is it?" Buffy asked, hoping it wasn't out of her price range.

"I believe I can give you a very good deal. I believe all my customers should have the costume that best suits them."

--

Ethan smiled as he watched the three teenagers leave. He had hoped the Slayer would go for the helpless princess, but the costume she bought might work just as well. The man who had sold him that outfit had said it was styled after a very powerful lady, married to man known as the Lord of the Western Lands. At first he had been confused as to why it came with a white wig, but he surmised it must either relate to mythology surrounding her or perhaps the lady in question had actually been albino.

His sale to the redhead had been even more promising. That wand had power of its own. As far as he could tell, it was a mix of Eastern and Western magic, something one doesn't come across very often. Unfortunately, he was unable to use it, so he decided to sell it and see what chaos it could cause. He had suggested the seifuku as an afterthought, hoping that girl would become one of those inane magical girls.

The last costume could be entertaining as well. A valiant white knight would try to slay all the beasts that would come alive tonight. He could just picture that young man rushing into battle to protect his fair maiden. Such a shame it would be if anyone got hurt.

He sure hoped Ripper would enjoy the show.

--

Back at the Warehouse, Spike was watching a video of Buffy fighting vampires. She effortlessly uses her sword to dust them, one at a time.

"How do I beat that sword?" he asked aloud, "There's got to be some way around it."

He turned his attention from the monitor in disgust as Drusilla walked in from another room.

"Miss Edith needs her tea," Drusilla informed him wistfully.

"C'mere poodle," he said as he beckoned her.

She sat down on his lap as he embraced her.

"Do you love my insides? The parts you can't see?" she asked

"Eyeballs to entrails, my sweet," he replied, "that's why I've got to study this Slayer. Once I know her I can kill her. And once I kill her you can have your run of Sunnyhell. Get strong again."

"You should hurry," she commented, "Someone new has come. He means to make her weak, but she will go stronger. They will all grow stronger."

This caught Spike's attention. This Slayer was giving him enough trouble as it was, he definitely didn't need her getting stronger.

"Who's going to make her stronger? When?"

"Tomorrow," she answered in a sing-song tone, "Tomorrow the girl will become a dog, tomorrow all the cards will be turned, tomorrow the monster of another world will awaken."

"Tomorrow's Halloween. Nothing happens on Halloween," Spike interjected.

For a moment Drusilla's eyes, always so distant, like she was never really there, became clear and focused. She walked over to Spike and put her face up to his. She spoke in a voice that was certainly not her own.

"You'd better get ready, blondie. Everything's changing and everyone, above and below, is in total disarray. Before the end of this, my wish is finally going to be granted and this time no punk is going to kill me before I can. Unfortunately for you, you and your little girlfriend will probably be dust in the wind by them. Oh, and my advice? Rent a scary movie and stay in tomorrow night, you won't like what will happen if you go out."

Spike could only stare in shock as Drusilla passed out and collapsed into his lap.

--

On Halloween night, back at Ethan's shop, the fun is about to begin. The chaos worshipper knelt before the bust of Janus. He pressed his hands together and they began to bleed.

"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit," he began.

He smeared blood from his left hand on his right eyelid.

"The peace that ignores thee…"

He repeated his previous motion, only swapping left and right.

"Thou corrupt."

He again took blood from his left hand and made a cross on his forehead.

"Chaos, I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."

--

Buffy was looking at herself in the mirror in her room. She was in full costume and she very much liked the effect. She felt like an empress, a divine ruler of all that she surveyed. Surely Angel would love it, even if it was a bit more exotic than the girls of his time.

"You almost done, Will?" she asked.

"I don't know if this is really me," Willow replied from the bathroom.

"C'mon, lemme see."

Tentatively, Willow stepped out of the bathroom. Buffy had to admit she was impressed. Willow's costume appeared to be some sort of Japanese schoolgirl outfit. It consisted of a white blouse with a hot pink collar and a pink bow on the chest. The skirt was the same color as the color and was definitely shorter than anything Willow would normally wear, but it still wasn't too revealing. There was another bow on the back right above the skirt, the same color as the one on the front. Clutched in her hands was the wand she had bought at the costume shop. The overall effect reminded Buffy of a commercial she had once seen for a show called Sailor Moon.

"You look amazing!" Buffy complemented.

"I don't know, isn't it a little…" Willow left it hanging as she fidgeted.

"You're gonna knock all the guys dead."

The discussion was interrupted by a knock coming from downstairs.

"That's Xander. Come on, I'm not leaving you alone so you can change."

Reluctantly, Willow followed Buffy out of her room and down the stairs. There was a moment when the Slayer almost tripped on her kimono, but she managed to catch herself beforehand. At the foot of the stairs Xander was ogling the pair. Buffy had to admit he looked dashing as a knight with his sword sheathed at his waist, even if the armor was plastic, it was at least high quality.

He bowed deeply.

"Empress Buffy of the Land of the Rising Sun, Sailor Willow, fear not my ladies for I, Sir Alexander the White, am here to escort you on this night of mischief."

"Why thank you, sir knight," Buffy replied, "I was fearful that in this strange land that I might be set upon by some terrible monsters."

"Xander, what do you think?" Willow asked, "I don't really feel like this is the right costume for me."

"It makes you look like the fairest maid in all the land," he responded.

A blush crept up her face and Buffy decided it was probably time to get going before she passed out.

"Let's go get this over with," Buffy suggested.

--

At the high school, the Scoobies were waiting for their kids. Buffy smiled as her group approached with Snyder, hoping to make the kids more at ease.

"This is your group, Summers. No need to speak to them. The last thing they need is your influence. Just bring them back in one piece and I won't expel you," he said and then began to leave.

She bent down and greeted them with a "Hi."

"Ah, ah!" Snyder chastened.

Buffy stood up and rolled her eyes.

Xander, meanwhile, had just had another run-in with Larry. He very much wished that tonight was an off night for the forces of darkness, just so they would do something horrible to him. Then the thought of Larry as a vampire crossed his mind and he shuddered. He instead turned his attention to the kids.

"Okay, on sleazing extra candy: tears are key. Tears will normally get you the double-bagger. You can also try the old 'you missed me' routine, but it's risky. Only go there for chocolate. Understood?" he coached.

They all nodded in response and he drew his sword, pointing it forward.

"Onward to victory and spoils!"

The kids began marching and Xander started to follow, when he noticed something on the floor. It was some kind of electronic key chain. He picked it up, shrugged, pocketed it, and then hurried to take his place at the head of the group.

Willow was still fidgeting with her costume, not paying attention to what she was doing. She gasped as she hit something and looked to see a very handsome senior. She recognized his face, but couldn't think of his name.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry!" he replied, "I like your costume."

He began eyeing her and she immediately felt uncomfortable. She could feel the blush creeping up her face again.

"Th-thanks. I-uh need to-uh go," she managed to say, "I h-have to-uh watch the k-kids."

"That's cool, giving back to the community and all. I guess I'll see you around."

"Umm…yeah, see you around," she replied before fleeing off in the other direction.

From behind her, Willow could hear him say, "Who was that girl?"

--

Back at Ethan's, the man in question was finishing up the ritual.

"Janus, evoco vestram animam," he incanted in Latin, "Exaudi meam causam. Carpe noctem pro consilio vestro. Veni, appare et nobis monstra quod est infinita potestas."

"Persona se corpum et sanguium commutandum est. Vestra sancta praesentia concrescet viscera. Janus! Sume noctem!

He raised his head.

"Showtime!"

--

Willow and her kids were walking up on a porch. Two of the kids put on red and green demon masks. They rang the doorbell. A woman emerged from the door.

"Trick or treat!" they shouted in unison.

"Oh, my goodness, aren't you adorable," she said.

She looked down at her bowl.

"I could've sworn I had more candy," she said, then bent down, "I'm sorry mister monster. Maybe I…"

She was cut off by the kids morphing into real demons. The green one grabbed her throat and began choking her. The rest of the kids ran away screaming.

"Hey!" Willow shouted, "Let her go!"

The red monster began attacking the green one and the woman quickly ran in and slammed the door shut.

"Stop it! What are you doing?!"

They continued fighting while Willow began to feel odd. Her wand began to glow, scaring away the demons. She pressed her back against the side of the house and began sliding down. She looked in horror as glow began spreading from the wand to her hand, and then to the rest of her body.

She could feel power building in her body, power from the wand, power from the earth, power from something else, and most of all, power from within herself. She felt sheer ecstasy as the power consumed her. She didn't even notice the cards falling from her chest as she blacked out.

--

Buffy watched helplessly as her kids ran off in all directions. Her breathing became labored as she fell to her knees. She clutched her head as something deep inside of her stirred. Darkness crept into her vision as she fought to maintain consciousness. It was a battle that she thoroughly lost as her body hit the hard ground below her.

Before Buffy could realize what was going on, she found herself in a sunny field. Before her stood a woman wearing her costume. The woman had golden eyes, a blue crescent moon on her forehead, and small red markings near her pointed ears.

"Where am I? Who are you?" Buffy demanded.

"Calm yourself, child," the woman said, "I am here because someone has called me back from the grave. I must temporarily inhabit your body until the spell is broken."

"There's no way I'm letting you take over my body."

"I fear that neither one of us has much say in the matter, unfortunately. Don't worry, I'll have it back to you good as new very soon. Better, in fact, though that is an unintended consequence."

Buffy was about to reply when she felt herself passing out again.

"Hmm…it appears I cannot hold together this place much longer. Don't worry, everything will be fine," the woman said.

--

Xander's transformation was no where near as spectacular as Willow or Buffy's. In fact, it was as simple as one second he was Xander Harris in a costume, then the next he was Sir Alexander the White, Defender of Man, wearing full armor and wielding a real sword. After a moment of disorientation, he drew his sword and rushed off to save some children from a monster.

What was important was what was occurring at the exact same moment in another dimension. In a deserted plain, an egg was hatching. The contents of the egg had little trouble extricating itself. The newborn monster took note of its surroundings, then looked skyward.

"Alexander LaVelle Harris," it said, "I'm coming for you."

--

Author's Notes

Okay, two things happened here that I had not intended. First, Halloween was supposed to be one chapter and not end in a cliffhanger, but I procrastinated for too long. So I ended up with this, but I like it. The second thing is that I didn't originally intend for Halloween to be the source of so many of the crossovers (though technically it isn't, it's just awakening and altering what's already there, but more about that later) because so many other authors use that. However I think it still works.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I appreciate constructive criticism.


	5. Halloween, Part II

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

--

Willow groaned and clutched her head as she sat up. She felt so groggy, like she needed to sleep for a couple days. She tried to look at her surroundings, but found that her vision was too blurry to make out anything. She blinked several times and her vision started to return. All around her she could see kids running wildly, terrified.

She tried to stand, but then felt something fall out of her lap. Sitting on the porch below her were nineteen cards. Each of them bore the picture of various people and objects. The back of each card was red with a five pointed star over top of a six pointed star. The corners of the cards had small trees. Willow quickly gathered them up and reached for her wand.

She was astounded to see that it had changed as well. It had turned the same shade of red as the cards. The star in the center had its points hollowed out, making it look much more like a pentacle. The wings on the sides had changed, one white and the other black.

"You'd think I'd be used to stuff like this by now," she said.

She got up quickly and picked up a nearby empty candy sack. She stuffed her wand and cards into it. She ran off of the porch and out into the lawn, looking for Buffy and Xander. She started to walk in the direction of Buffy's house when she heard something behind her.

She turned to see a vampire looming over her. She reached for her wand to hit it when a blade suddenly emerged from his chest. He stared down at it before collapsing to its knees. Whoever had stabbed it pulled the sword out of it.

Willow looked up in shock to see Xander in real armor. He began a swing to decapitate the vampire.

"No! Xander, it's a kid!" she yelled.

He seemed to ignore her, his blade continuing its path.

Without realizing what she was doing, she reached into her bag and pulled out her wand and a card. The card floated in the air in front of her and she slammed her wand against it.

"Shield!" she shouted.

Instantly a wing shaped shield with a red jewel in the middle of it appeared between Xander's sword and the vampire just before he struck. The vampire looked up and realized it hadn't been dusted. It leapt to its feet despite its flesh wound and rushed past Willow.

"Okay, what just happened?" Willow mumbled.

"Vile sorceress!" Xander spat, pointing his sword at her, "Why do you defend that foul demon who assailed you?"

"Xander, it's me, Willow! I'm not a sorceress, I'm not sure how I just did that, but I'm not!"

"I am not this 'Xander' of which you speak. I am Sir Alexander the White and I do not hold company with witches! Consider it fortuitous that I would not strike down a woman, even if she was Satan's bitch."

The last part caused Willow's jaw to drop. Satan's bitch?

"Now I must be off. There are innocents that I must save, as is my duty as a knight."

He turned to walk off and Willow grabbed his arm.

"Xander, stop!"

"That's not going to do you any good, he has no idea who he is," said someone behind them.

They turned to see Buffy walking up to them. She looked odd, though. Her eyes were now an odd gold color and her ears were pointy like an elf. There were also strange reddish marks under her ears and a blue crescent moon on her forehead.

"Buffy! You remember you are?" Willow asked.

"I have access to her memories while inhabiting this body, I'm not your friend, but you may refer to me as her for convenience's sake," she replied, traces of an accent in her voice "I believe we should finish what I have to do and then quickly undo this mess. I have no real interest in the lives of these humans, but I believe my granddaughter would be quite upset if I allowed the ones she is sworn to protect to come to harm. Even if she can resurrect them with Tenseiga."

"Unhand me!" Xander shouted, jerking his arm free of Willow's grasp.

"Humans," said 'Buffy,' rolling her eyes.

In blur she was standing in front of Xander. He stood amazed for a second and then suddenly collapsed into a heap.

"Carry him," she ordered Willow.

"What did you do to him?!"

"He's fine," she replied, "He's just knocked out. Now carry him."

"There's no way I can lift him!"

"Use one of those cards like you did before."

"I don't know how I did that!"

'Buffy' sighed, leaned over, and picked up Xander bridal style. Willow would've been amazed if she didn't already know how strong Buffy was, but it was still a bit of a strange sight.

"Are you coming?"

Willow quickly followed after her.

"Um, where are we going?" Willow asked.

"We have some tasks to accomplish before the night is over and I have to return to the world of the dead. My granddaughter won't retain enough of my memories to do them herself."

"About that, are you really her grandmother?"

"In a roundabout way, I am Sesshomaru's mother. He used to have nothing but disdain for humans, but then he adopted that girl. She certainly changed him, made him more like his father in some respects. He's really taken an interest in this girl."

"Can you tell me about him? Sesshomaru, I mean. Buffy's been trying to find out as much as she can about him."

Sesshomaru's mother paused for a moment, thinking. Willow looked at her expectantly.

Then she shook her head.

"No, I think it would be better if I didn't. My son would be very displeased with me if I revealed too much at this point."

"Revealed too much of what?"

The woman turned her head and looked at Willow with a sly smile.

"That would be telling," she replied.

So they continued on their course, Willow mostly silent, worried about both of her friends. A few times some monsters tried to attack them, but a hard look and a snarl from Sesshomaru's mother was all it took to scare them off. Willow found this a bit odd and decided it would be best not to cross her if they were so scared of her.

Finally they reached their destination: Buffy's house. They walked up onto the porch and stopped.

"What are we doing here?" Willow inquired.

"I need to write a message. This seemed like a good place to do it."

"Shouldn't we be out there saving people or something? I mean there are an awful lot of monsters out and about."

"You're free to help them, I suppose, but I daresay that would be futile unless you learn to use those cards."

"It's not going to do any good to ask you to do it, is it?"

"No, now will you get the door. I appear to have my hands full."

Willow sidestepped the supernatural noblewoman and reached for the doorknob. She opened it to find a dark, empty house. Willow walked in and Sesshomaru's mother followed after. She dumped Xander's unconscious body unceremoniously on the couch and went to get some paper and something to write with. Willow paced nervously in front of the couch, still worried that Xander might be seriously hurt while Sesshomaru's mother awkwardly wrote Japanese characters with a ballpoint pen, a writing utensil she was clearly not used to using.

She looked over the letter a few times, seemed satisfied that she had written everything that needed to be written, and stuffed it in an envelope. She sealed the envelope, got up and handed it to Willow.

"I'm entrusting you to ensure that this is delivered," she said.

The envelope was addressed to someone named Jiro Inuno in San Francisco with Buffy's address written in the corner as the return address.

"Who's Jiro Inuno and why are you sending him a letter?" Willow asked.

Sesshomaru's mother sighed and replied, "You ask an awful lot of questions, don't you? All I can say is that he's going to be very helpful to you and your friends in a few years, if he doesn't run off immediately after getting that letter, that is. He's been hiding out from everyone for the past few centuries and probably won't want to get involved."

"Wait, centuries? Is this guy some kind of demon or something?"

"That's it, no more questions. You're starting to irritate me. Now let's go, we need to find the Watcher so that I can back to where I belong. This world just isn't a place for purebloods like me anymore."

"We can't just leave Xander here," Willow insisted.

"He'll be fine. He'll probably be back to normal before he wakes up, no worse for wear."

--

Giles took a sip from the cup of steaming tea beside him. There were various books and papers scattered on the table in front of him. He had decided to use the supernatural activity free night of Halloween to compile and organize everything he could find out about Spike (aka William the Bloody) and about Tenseiga. So far it had proved to be a bit more of a daunting task than he had originally anticipated. The ugly visage of Death looking over his shoulder didn't help matters either.

"Ripper, do you have anymore apples?" it asked.

Giles, tired and irritated with having to put up with the shinigami, turned to give him an exasperated look. The creature behind him was a very odd sight, a pale creature with spiky black hair, yellow eyes with red pupils and no irises, black markings around his eyes, an upturned nose with slit-like nostrils, blue lips, and sharp pointy teeth. He was wearing a black outfit that was feathery around the shoulders and could only be described as BDSM.

"You ate them all Ryuk," Giles replied impatiently, "Isn't there anywhere else you can be right now?"

"Nice try," Ryuk said, "but you and I both know that I have to haunt the owner of the Death Note until they relinquish ownership of it or I write their name in my own Death Note. I know there's no way you'll give up your Death Note, you're too afraid it might fall into the wrong hands and things are getting too interesting for me to kill you. In fact, why don't you go for a walk and see if anything's going on tonight."

"Nothing ever happens on Halloween," Giles said dismissively, beginning to go back to his work.

However, something in Ryuk's tone of voice caused him to pause. You don't spend all day every day for several decades with an entity and not learn their mannerisms.

"Is there something you aren't telling me, Ryuk?"

"I just think it would do you some good to take in the night air."

"Something's going on, isn't it?" Giles asked.

Ryuk gave a small chuckle in response.

"Ryuk!" Giles shouted, getting up, "It must be something big for you to be able to sense it, now what is it?! Tell me or you'll never see another apple while I have that Death Note!"

This seemed to give Ryuk pause. Giles knew the shinigami wouldn't be willing to give up his apples over this and it wasn't like he was breaking any rules (that Giles knew of, anyway) by telling him. He just tried to be as obstinate as possible to make things more interesting for himself.

"Fine," Ryuk said after some contemplation, "Someone's cast some kind of spell, a big one by the feeling. I can tell it involves chaos magic and whoever did it probably invoked the god of chaos to do it."

"Ethan," Giles muttered, "I should've known he wouldn't be content to leave me alone. I'll have to go find him and put a stop to whatever he's doing. Can you lead me to him?"

Before Ryuk could reply, someone came into the doors. Giles only hoped whoever it was hadn't heard him talking to Ryuk and thought he was talking to himself. Luckily for him, it was just Willow, looking quite odd in her sailor outfit with pink hair, followed by Buffy, who looked different, but was still very recognizable. Clutched fearfully to Buffy's arm was Cordelia, wearing a slightly ripped unitard with lopsided cat ears on her head.

"Giles, something's wrong!" Willow announced, "Everyone's turned into their costumes and I'm the only one who remembers who I really am! Xander's turned into some kind of knight and Buffy's become her own ancestor and…"

She broke off from her long winded speech and looked at Cordelia. Meanwhile, Buffy seemed to stare directly at Ryuk and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Giles automatically dismissed it as coincidence. After all, only someone who had touched the Death Note could see the shinigami.

"Cordelia, you don't think you're a cat, do you?" she asked.

"No, of course not," Cordy replied, starting to regain a bit of her composure, then she turned her head to look at her butt, "I'm not gonna grow a tail, am I?"

"Okay, so Cordelia stayed normal," Willow said, ignoring her, "Why isn't she affected?"

"Cordelia, where did you get your costume?" Giles asked, starting to get some suspicions.

"Partytown," she replied, "I…"

"And Willow, where did you and Buffy get yours?" he asked, cutting off Cordelia's inevitable spiel.

"A new place, Ethan's," Willow answered.

Instantly it all fell into place. Giles didn't know what the point of all this was, perhaps it had no point, chaos was often like that, but regardless had to stop his old friend. He hastily went to his desk and opened a drawer. At the very bottom, buried under various books and papers, was a manila envelope. He opened it and took out a single sheet of blank paper with the letters D and N written in the corners. He also grabbed spare pen and scribbled the name 'Ethan' on it. That should save him some time in a pinch.

Ryuk gave a hearty laugh at his preparations.

"Willow, I'll need directions to this shop. I want you all to wait here for me. I won't be gone long," he said.

--

Giles pushed open the door to Ethan's door with Ryuk hovering behind him on those black feathery wings. It had taken quite a bit of effort to convince Willow that he should go alone. He had to lie and say that it was possible whoever had cast the spell could control anyone wearing one of his costumes. He knew sooner or later they would most likely learn of his…youthful indiscretions, but he wasn't ready for Ethan to reveal everything to them.

Inside, his old friend appeared to have been waiting for him, standing among his unsold stock. The chaos sorcerer spread his arms wide.

"What, no hug?" Ethan asked, "Aren't you happy to see me again? It's been ages!"

"Undo the spell and get out of town," Giles said coldly, putting his pen to the page of his Death Note, "Or I'll kill you right here and now. I only need to write Rayne."

"Straight to business, I see," Ethan commented, "Back in the old days you would've found this the epitome of fun. A very literal case of be careful what you wish for."

"It's sick, twisted and harms the innocent. I won't stand for it."

"Still playing at Watcher, I see. The tweed clad guardian of the Slayer. That's not who you really are, you and I both know it. I've seen the darkness in you, Ripper. I know what you're capable of. Do you think the Slayer would be so accepting if she knew half the things you've done? She'd probably never speak to you again."

"He's got a point, you know," Ryuk interjected, "you guys toyed with some things that scared even me."

"Thank you, Ryuk," Ethan said.

Giles, no longer able to contain his fury, delivered a swift kick Ethan's groin. He slumped over in pain, gripping his crotch. Giles took the opportunity to slug him right across the face. Ethan fell into a rack of costumes causing them to fall onto him.

"How do I break the spell?"

"Say 'pretty please.'"

Giles kicked Ethan across the face as hard as possible. Some blood and several teeth flew out. He placed his foot on the chaos sorcerer's throat and reached again for the Death Note page.

"How do I break the spell?"

"Break the bust," Ethan coughed.

Giles strode over to the two headed bust of the god Janus, lifted it up over his head, and threw it down, smashing it.

--

Back at Buffy's house, Xander slept as his sword and armor became fake once more and Sir Alexander the White again became nothing more than an invention of his imagination. He wouldn't even remember in the morning that he had beaten Larry the pirate to a pulp right before seeing Willow again.

--

Buffy suddenly found color returning to her world. She was once again in the meadow she had been before she had passed out before. Again that woman in her costume was standing before her.

"It's done," she said, "Your body is yours once again. I'm afraid it's a bit different than when you left it, but there's nothing that can be done about it now."

Buffy was about to question her further when her vision blurred and she felt dizzy. Suddenly she found herself staring at the blurry image of Willow.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked, "Are you Buffy again?"

The Slayer nodded, "It's me, Will."

She reached up to take off her wig. As it came off her head, Willow gasped.

"What's wrong?" Buffy demanded.

"Um, well," Willow said, then turned, "Cordelia, do you have a compact?"

"Yeah," Queen C replied, retrieving it from a small pocket in her unitard "why do you…oh, wow, you definitely didn't get through this Halloween thing too well."

Confused, Buffy snatched the compact from Cordelia's hand. As she opened it, she vaguely wondered if her nails had always been so long and sharp looking. She stared at her face for a second, it looked normal. Then she noticed her eyes. They were no longer their normal hazel, but gold. She pulled the compact back to look at her hair and despite her wig being off (she double checked to be sure) it was still very much white. The final shock came when she spotted the furry ears on top of her head.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?!"

--

Back the Warehouse, Spike and Drusilla sat curled up together on couch watching a television, both of which they had had some minions steal from local stores the previous night. Between them was a bowl of popcorn. Closer inspection revealed that the popcorn was coated not with butter, but blood from a fresh victim. The red fluid stuck to their fingers as they ate.

Spike had to admit he felt a bit like a coward for staying in tonight, but he had learned that when Drusilla warns someone about something, it's in their best interest to heed her. So they had stayed in and were currently watching A Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie was coming to its conclusion with the protagonist entering a car that is revealed to the possessed by the killer.

"Bloody hell," said Spike, "I think that was the most boring hour and a half of my life. Humans actually find this rubbish scary. I'd love to show them what real fear is."

"Spike," intoned Drusilla, "Do you think the man will visit me in my dreams? We can have tea and cakes and I'll tell him what a good girl I've been. He'll have to bring me present."

"You're thinking of Santa, Dru."

"Will you get me a kitten for Christmas, Spike? My mum never let me have pets, said they were."

"Of course, Princess," Spike replied, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to care for a kitten.

Drusilla paused for a moment, as if listening to something. She began to sway, the let out an earsplitting scream. She grabbed her head and fell to the floor. She convulsed wildly while Spike knelt at her side, trying to calm her down.

At last, the screaming and convulsions stopped. She stood up, her eyes rolled back and tears pouring forth. She spoke in a strong confident voice.

"Heaven shall burn and Hell shall freeze. All that was meant to be shall be meaningless. The cards have turned, the girl has become a dog, and the monster has awakened. Next the goddess shall come and the angel shall go below and become a god. Then the demon will come and take goddess's place. The key shall come and turn to sand. The One Who Sees shall watch and wait. All else is in shadow and shall not be known until it comes to be."

--

Author's Note:

I decided to go ahead and submit this early since I've got it done. I'll probably start updating my stories at random times now that I'm juggling two big ones and two drabble series. I've also got two plot bunnies in my head, but I'm forcing myself to not let them see the light of day until I can get those stories finished.


	6. A Bit of History

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

--

Buffy gave Willow a disparaging look as the redhead tried to approach with the hair dye again.

"I can't do it," she sighed, clamping down on her nose, "the smell's about to kill me."

"It's not that bad," Willow replied.

"You don't have a dog's sense of smell," Buffy retorted, then she sighed and put her face in her hands, "What am I going to do? I can't go home and let mom see me like this and I definitely can't go to school. The hair and eyes I could explain with dye and contacts, but I have dog ears!"

She twitched her ears for emphasis.

"Are you sure they're dog ears?" Willow asked, "They kinda look like cat ears, being pointy and all."

This earned her a flat stare.

"I'm sorry," Willow said, "…would a Scooby Snack make you feel better?"

Willow smiled innocently at her own joke. Buffy wasn't amused.

"I'm so going to chew up every pair of shoes you own," Buffy responded.

"I'll send you to the pound, missy."

This actually elicited a small chuckle from Buffy.

"Okay, enough dog jokes, seriously. We need to go see if Giles managed to dig up anything through his 'less than reputable' contacts and I swear if you mention bones I'll brain you," she said, noting a mischievous look cross Willow's face at the word dig.

Buffy jumped out up from Willow's bed, allowing the towel that had been hanging around her shoulders to fall to the floor. She had been lucky that Halloween had fallen on a Saturday and she had been able to spend the night at Willow's. The whole becoming some sort of dog demon had been jarring, but it wasn't like she didn't deal with the supernatural all the time and she had already gotten used to the fact that she was descended form a demon.

"Okay, just let me grab a letter I need to mail," Willow said, "I'll call Xander and tell him to meet us in the library."

Willow opened her top drawer and retrieved an envelope. Sitting next to it was a miniaturized version of her wand, which had inexplicably shrunk and grown a chain so that it could be worn as a necklace. Beneath that were her cards stacked neatly. She had dubbed these "Willow Cards," though when Xander asked why she didn't come up with a cooler name, she had no good answer. She had decided to have Giles and Ms. Calendar help her learn how to use them.

"So what's the deal with the letter?" Buffy asked.

"It's, uh, just something, uh, Mom made me write to a relative," she lied badly.

"Maybe you should wear a hat," Willow suggested.

Buffy twitched her ears and sighed.

"These things are going to be really inconvenient," she commented as Willow rummaged around for a hat.

"It could be worse, you could have a tail," Willow said.

"Never say it could be worse!"

--

Giles sighed as he carefully set out the offering. It had taken quite a bit of effort and driving to locate rice, saké, and fried tofu in the previous night after he had found the book to tell him those were the things he needed to summon a kitsune servant of the Shinto deity Inari. He chose the kitsune of Inari specifically because he believed they would be safest.

However, there were a couple problems. Unlike other religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam, Shinto never spread. It was too uniquely connected to the land, animals and people of Japan. So summoning the servant of such a deity to another country would be difficult to say the least and a person not of Japanese descent would find it impossible. Luckily he had such a person with Buffy, but using the low quality items he had managed to gather made it quite an iffy proposition.

"Do you believe this will work?" Giles asked Ryuk.

"It's hard to say," Ryuk said, "The major kami can be pretty stuck up, though since you're just summoning a kitsune I think you'll be all right. You could just ask me about yokai, though."

"I have known you for far too long to trust you to give me the whole truth on any subject, especially something as vitally important as this."

"I still don't see what the big deal is."

"The 'big deal' is that the Slayer is becoming a demon. Something like this has never happened before and we're walking a fine line. I have no way of knowing what the Watcher's Council will do if they find out, nor do I know if I can protect her if they decide she needs to be eliminated. I need answers as to what she's becoming and I don't have to time to search for accurate translations of Japanese texts and I can't translate them myself because the bloody Council apparently felt it wasn't important that I learn any Asian languages."

"Oh."

"Now if you'll…"

"Giles, who are you talking to?" Buffy asked as she walked into the library with Willow and Xander, "We don't have another invisible girl do we?"

The three teens all took seats at the nearby table. Giles noted that Buffy hadn't attempted to dye her hair back to blonde and that she had used a hat and her hair to disguise the fact that she had dog ears now rather than human ones.

"No, I was simply preparing a ritual to summon a fox-demon to give us some answers about your heritage."

"Isn't bringing a demon to us kinda the opposite of what we should do?" Xander asked.

"In most cases, yes. However, these foxes entirely benign, so it should be quite safe."

"Great," Buffy said, "So what do we do?"

"Well…frankly I'm not entirely sure. I was able to find out what to offer, just not how to go about it."

Buffy stood up and walked over to where the offering sat. She placed hands on both sides of it.

"Maybe if I…" she started to say.

Suddenly a ball of blue flame erupted out of thin air. The Slayer jumped back, ready to face a threat. Xander and Willow looked at in awe while Giles watched to see what would happen. Ryuk's smiled widened a little at the thought of something exciting happening.

The fire coalesced into a white furred fox about the size of large dog with nine tails that floated so that it was eye level with Buffy. Small balls of blue flame burned on the end of each tail.

Everyone in the room could only gape at the magnificent creature in their midst. The spell was only broken when the creature spoke, though its mouth didn't move. Unfortunately it spoke in Japanese and only Ryuk could understand it.

Giles cast the shinigami a meaningful glance.

"Sorry but you could never trust me with something this important," he echoed.

It was at exactly that moment Giles was the most ready to attempt the most powerful exorcism spell he knew to send Ryuk straight to oblivion.

Luckily, the fox seemed to catch on. It extended a paw and touched Buffy's forehead. A small leaf appeared where the fox's paw had been, but it quickly disappeared.

This time when the fox spoke, Buffy seemed to understand. She even replied back in Japanese.

--

"Greetings Inu-san," the fox said in a feminine voice, "I am Dakiniten. I was sent by Inari-sama to answer your questions."

Buffy hesitated for a moment. So many things popped into her at once, not the least of which was how exactly did she just suddenly learn Japanese?

"I'm Buffy and I have about a million questions. The one that sticks out most is probably what am I?"

Dakiniten seemed to smile slightly.

"Perhaps I should start at the beginning, the very beginning that is."

Suddenly the library was gone. Buffy and the fox floated in the air above a vast field. Below were terrifying creatures, great and small. Some were indescribable and horrible while others were somewhat reminiscent of living creatures. They were fighting in a seemingly pointless exercise of bloodshed.

"In ages past the world was ruled by the Old Ones, pure demons of immense power," Dakiniten started.

Buffy already knew this, but she listened attentively anyway.

"And in that time there were also the first yokai such as the oni and the kodama, born from the mountains and trees. These creatures were unrelated to the Old Ones, as were the yokai to come after them."

The scene changed. Now they hovered over a vast forest. Small, odd-looking creatures that looked humanoid dolls sat in huge trees. Huge red creatures with thick black hair and bovine horns wearing a loincloth and carrying a huge metal club wandered among the trees.

"And so time passed and there came mortal animals. They were too weak to survive long against the pure demons, but from them came our kinds, kitsune and inugami, as well as others: the hebi, the tanuki, the mujina, the okami, the tsuchigumo, the nekomata, and many others who by strength or trickery secured the survival of mortal species."

This time they were in another forest. There were foxes of various colors with various numbers of tails, huge dogs like the one Buffy had seen when she died, snakes of various sizes hanging from tree limbs, raccoon-like creatures wearing cone-shaped hats, badgers, wolves, giant spiders, and cats the size of horses with two tails.

"And lastly came humans and there were yokai created from them as well, the rokuro-kubi, the yuki-onna, the yama-uba among many."

This time they viewed several scenes. A person with a neck extending several feet into the air. A beautiful pale woman in a vast expanse of snow. A hideous old woman with unkempt white hair and a second mouth on top of her head.

"And the animal yokai watched the humans with keen interest and learned to take on their forms, to deceive, to live among them, or for various reasons."

A three-tailed kitsune placed a leaf on its head and it transformed into a beautiful woman. A huge inugami shrank down and became a man with long white hair. Humans with wolf tails wearing furs and armor ran among a pack of okami.

"In time, the Old Ones lost their hold on this world. Many were killed and sealed away and the others left this reality. However, they left behind imprints of themselves. They bred with or infected humans and animals to produce hybrids, the demons you and your line have long battled. There were also a handful of pure demons left, though not as powerful as the Old Ones. The demons took what would become the West and we yokai moved east to what would become Japan and China."

This time it was night. Thousands of yokai stretched as far as the eye could see. Buffy could see lights from paper lanterns and blue flames like those on Dakiniten's tails.

"We commemorate this migration every year with our Hyakki Yako."

"Okay, so Cliffnotes version is that we aren't demons, we're something else, yokai, right?" Buffy asked,

"That is correct," Dakiniten replied, "Though since you still have half of your human blood, you are a hanyo."

Relief washed over Buffy. Not only was she not a demon, she was still half human.

"So what about my heritage?"

"By that do you mean your actual familial lineage or the Slayer line?"

"Both," she replied after little consideration.

"Very well."

This time they were in a dark cave. In the center of the cave was a teenage girl of about Buffy's age chained to the ground. Three men stood around her, pounding their staffs on the ground. A box sat in front of the girl. As the sound of their pounding staffs grew louder, a cloud of black smoke rose out of the box and surrounded her.

"The humans were in trouble, danger constantly pursued them. So they trapped the essence of a pure demon and they found a girl whose blood wasn't wholly human, but who showed no signs of being something else. A pure human couldn't handle the power. They chained her to the earth and infused her with the demon's heart. It made her strong, fast, and better able to fight back the forces of darkness and the enchantment was woven so that that power would be passed on to girls like her, human but not completely so."

Buffy felt a pang of sympathy for that long dead girl. Not only had they forced her into a short, brutal life, they had violated her soul to do so.

"Shall we go on?" Dakiniten asked.

"Yeah," Buffy replied.

"So we lived in Japan for millennia alongside the humans. Some of us sought to harm or trick them, others sought to befriend them, and many simply wished to be left alone. In time there was an inugami known as the Dog General. He was a great hero to both humans and yokai. He drove off foreign invaders and slew evil yokai and was considered by many to be one of the most powerful yokai of his time. He died after his battle with the dragon Ryukotsusei, only succeeding in sealing him away."

Suddenly they stood in a vast gorge, above them was a huge dragon with a giant claw piercing it.

"He left behind two sons, a hanyo like you named Inuyasha and your ancestor, Sesshomaru. Both fought in many great battles, sometimes against each other and at other times together and they grew to surpass their father in strength. Their greatest victory came when they defeated a truly evil yokai known as Naraku."

Now they were in a small village. Overhead was an enormous spider rolled up into a ball. Villagers stood around looking on in horror as the spider's body began breaking into pieces. Inside the creature she could see several people and yokai, but one stood out. He was very handsome with long white hair, pointed ears, facials markings similar to her costume's but longer, and a blue crescent moon on his forehead. He was wearing a white kimono with red on the shoulders and ends of the sleeves, white pants that poofed out at the ankles, blue pointy shoes, a kind of black armor over it with spiky metal on the top and over his left shoulder, a yellow and blue sash around his waist, and a big furry boa-like thing on his right shoulder. He held a sword in his hand then used it to slice a nasty looking big bad.

Buffy felt her heart leap at the sight. She finally understood her obsessive desire to research him. She had wanted to see what he looked like, to see him in action, to see that he was a noble warrior and not just a monster.

"And so when she grew old enough, he took the human girl he had adopted as his mate and she gave him a single daughter. But in time, the girl grew old and died, as humans are wont to do."

In a small hut there was an old woman lying on mat on the floor. A young woman who looked to be in her twenties stood over her crying, as did Sesshomaru. His grief was well restrained, but also obvious on his face. The old woman smiled and said something Buffy couldn't hear then took a final breathe and drifted away. Sesshomaru said something to his daughter, picked up his mate and left, leaving the hanyo alone and prostrate with grief.

"He took her and gave her a proper send off into the afterlife. Then he disappeared after that and many believed that he was dead-. The world moved on and men came from the West. The Watcher's Council had long been in Japan, but they took more initiative at the end of the Warring States period. They didn't understand that we weren't the same as their demons and so they sought to wipe out the pure yokai through their magic and warriors."

A full moon shone overhead. Buffy and Dakiniten watched as Sesshomaru stepped out the forest into a clearing. He paused in the middle of the clearing and mouthed something.

"What, no audio?" Buffy asked.

"You only needed to ask if you wished to hear what them," the kitsune replied.

"Come out now," Sesshomaru ordered.

Several robed figures emerged from the trees, forming a circle around him.

"You are the ones who have been hunting yokai," he stated, "I have been roused from my slumber by my servant to protect my kind. I will give you one chance to leave this land."

There was no response, only low rhythmic chanting. A glowing circle connected the people the circle. Complex geometric shapes and rune appeared within the circle.

"Very well."

He drew his sword from its sheath. This brought Buffy's attention to the fact that rather than two swords, he had only one, meaning he must have already sealed Tenseiga. He swung the sword, releasing a huge wave of destructive power erupted from it. It struck a barrier and halted. The runes glowed even brighter.

"Fool," said one of the figures, "All that will accomplish is killing yourself faster."

The figure pulled back his hood to reveal a badly scarred face that was missing an eye and a good chunk of nose.

"With the help of these foreigners I will wipe out all of you damned yokai, just like you bastards did to my family."

"You are the fool," Sesshomaru answered, calmly "No human can defeat me."

"Oh, I think you'll find that is quite wrong. I've learned to sense yoki and I've never felt one so utterly perfect. In any other case that would be your advantage. However, this spell will take your own yoki and throw it right back at you!"

Sesshomaru smirked.

"I will show you your place."

His eyes began to turn red was his body grew and morphed into his true canine form. The glow of the circle grew so intense that it seemed like an eerie sort of daylight had filled the area. Buffy watched as his sheer power continued fueling the spell. There was a loud cracking sound and shouts of surprise as the spell was overpowered. An explosion rocked the area the men's magic and Sesshomaru's yoki mixed, creating a blinding flash. When the smoke cleared, there was a crater where the magic circle had been surrounded by charred corpses. All that remained of the daiyokai was his sword.

Another magical circle appeared under the sword and portal opened over it. Out of the portal fell a beautiful Japanese woman with long hair wearing a black kimono. She reached down and picked up the sword.

"Your price is paid," she said.

Suddenly Buffy found herself back in the library with Dakiniten hovering in front of her.

"I trust that answered most of your questions, correct?" the kitsune asked.

"Yeah," Buffy replied, still a bit numb from everything she had just seen.

"Very well, I shall take my leave. However, first I have something to give you."

Dakiniten placed her paw on the table near the untouched offering. Blue fire flared and she lifted her paw to reveal a leaf.

"Press this to your forehead and you will be able to create the illusion of your human form. It is powered by your own yoki so you will need to practice using to do it properly. It will also allow you to summon me if you should ever need my assistance by saying my name while holding it. I wish you luck, Inu-san."

With that, she was gone. Before Buffy even realized it, Willow, Xander and Giles were all right next to her.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed, "What happened?! You kinda just zoned out there for a while and we thought it was going to possess you or something only we couldn't move and I was so worried even though Giles said it was safe."

"Breathe Willow," Buffy said, "I'm fine."

"What exactly happened just now?" Giles asked.

Buffy sighed.

"This is going to be a long story."

--

Not long after that Buffy stood over the grave of a friend with Giles at her side.

"I should've known something was wrong with him," she said, "I could smell it, but I just didn't know what it was. I told myself it was just a unique part of his smell. If the brain tumor had killed him, I could've brought him back

"It's not your fault Buffy," Giles comforted, "He made his choice and this is the result. There's nothing you could've done."

"If I hadn't trusted him so much, he couldn't've stolen Tenseiga and Spike and his crew would be dust. If I hadn't been so lax in figuring out my inugami powers, they'd probably be dust anyway. But I didn't know if I could win against them all, I didn't know my limits. Even with Tenseiga back in my hand, I still couldn't pull off the blue wave thing to take them all out at once. So I left him to get exactly what he wanted.

She dug her nails so deep into her palms that they bled. The pain was welcome after feeling nothing but guilt.

"People make mistakes," Giles said, "We're only human, though I suppose that in your case that isn't entirely true."

A hand emerged from the ground. Slowly, Ford pulled himself out of the ground, a fledgling vampire in full game face.

"But we also learn from our mistakes," Buffy added.

She raised her blood coated nails into the air and brought them down in a scratching motion. Crimson blades shot forth, severing his head, both legs, and cutting his torso in half before he turned to dust.

"Does it ever get any easier?" Buffy asked.

"Does what get easier?"

"Life."

"What would you like me to say?

"Lie to me."

--

Willow took a deep breath as she concentrated on channeling her inner power. The meditation techniques Giles and Ms. Calendar had taught her had helped her touch it, but she had been unable to get her wand to grow again.

She opened her eyes and looked over at Buffy who was also meditating with Tenseiga in her lap. Buffy had been having trouble controlling her yoki and maintaining her illusion. At first she hadn't been able to create the illusion at all, but then Giles taught her to use meditation to access her yoki. When she was finally able to do it, the illusions tended to a miss a detail or looked too perfect to actually be human. Only recently had she been able to reach a happy medium and sustain it for any reasonable length of time.

"Xander's back," Buffy said, not even opening her eyes, "He has snacks!"

She opened her eyes and looked expectantly at the door. Since Halloween Buffy's senses of smell and hearing had astounded Willow who felt a bit jealous that she hadn't been able to use her gains at all yet.

"How goes the training?" Giles asked from behind them.

"Not so good," Willow replied, "I just can't get it to work."

"Perhaps there is an incantation or special phrase required to activate it. I have several books on the subject."

"If only it was as easy as 'Magic wand thingy, I'm Willow and I order you to work right now!'"

She felt a surge of power erupted from that inner supply. The wand that had previously been a small keychain had now reverted back to its original form.

"Wow," Willow said.

"Indeed," Giles replied.

At that moment Xander walked through the doors, a bag of various snack foods in hand.

"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"Not much, Willow just made her wand grow with a made up incantation," Buffy replied.

"Ahh, the weirdness that is living in Sunnydale. So, who's up for Twinkies?"

"I believe that investigating Willow's powers should come before cream filled sponge cake," Giles said.

"Party pooper" Buffy accused, "Whoa, someone in the hallways is in a hurry

"A proper set of priorities is…"

"Okay, you guys have to help me!" Cordelia shouted as she walked into the library.

"To what do we owe this after school visit?" Xander inquired.

"I've been like possessed by a dream demon or something," Cordelia declared.

"Why do you say that?" Giles asked.

She sat down at the table and put her head in her hands.

"I keep having these dreams like people are throwing fireballs at me and there's this guy who's after me and there's this other guy who comes and saves me, but then the first guy comes back, only he's disguised as a woman, and then he kills me with a cloud of bugs, which is like ew."

"While understandably frightening, I fail to see how this could mean you are possessed," Giles said.

"I keep having them every night and I can't sleep because when the bug part comes, it really feels like there are bugs ripping me apart. Demonic enough for ya?"

"It could be that someone has put a curse on you. Can you think of someone who might have a grudge against you?"

Xander snorted, "Well that narrows it down to the entire student body of Sunnydale High."

Willow couldn't help but smile. Just the response one would expect from the treasurer of the 'We Hate Cordelia Club.'

"At least they care that I exist," she snarked back.

"I don't wanna make it seem like Twinkies and dream bugs aren't important, but I think Willow has first dibs on Giles," Buffy interjected.

"I believe Buffy is right," Giles replied, standing up, "A test of your power may be in order."

"Okay," Willow responded.

She reached into her pocket and took out the cards. Flipping through them she noticed that several of them would probably be dangerous to use here. Finally she selected a safe looking one: the Flower.

She brought it up into the air and smacked it with her wand and shouted "Flower!"

Instantly they were all up to their knees in flower petals of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

"Oops."

--

A/N: I cut out most of the Ford episode because I really didn't want to just do a copy of the episode, so I just moved on to the end and gave you some hints as to what differences there were.

From now on I'll be using the word yokai to differentiate between Japanese supernatural creatures and Western names. I'll also use the Japanese names for animals when I'm talking about yokai rather than actual animals.

Glossary:

Yoki: Supernatural/demonic energy

Daiyokai: great yokai

Shinigami: Literally translates as death god. They aren't actually a part of traditional Japanese folklore, instead they are adaptations of European ideas of personifications of death, but are nonetheless popular in anime and manga. Death Note shinigami differ from most shinigami in that they just kill people, they don't ferry their souls.

Oni: Usually translated as ogre. A usually evil creature of Japanese folklore that lives in mountains.

Kodama: Tree-dwelling spirits of Japanese folklore. My description of them is borrowed from Princess Mononoke.

Kitsune: Fox spirits. They are usually portrayed as mischievous tricksters who possess people and transform into beautiful women to seduce men. There are also good kitsune who serve the Shinto god of rice Inari. The kitsune of Inuyasha (such as Shippo) more or less fit this description with a few differences.

Inugami: Literally translates as dog god. The inugami (Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, their dad, and Sessh's mom) from Inuyasha are _very_ different from those of folklore.

Hebi: Snakes

Tanuki: Usually translated as raccoon dog, though just calling them tanuki in English is completely appropriate. They are a species native to Asia that look like raccoons, but are actually canids (like dogs, wolves, and foxes.)

Mujina: Badgers

Okami: Wolves (which have actually been extinct in Japan since 1905). Koga and his pack are much less nice to humans than okami are to humans in folklore.

Tsuchigumo: Giant spiders

Nekomata: Literally translates as forked cat. When a cat reaches a certain age or grows to a certain size, they become bakeneko (monster cats). If a bakeneko's tail grows too long, the tail will split in two and it will become a nekomata. Kirara (or Kilala depending on your Romanization preference) really doesn't have that much in common with nekomata of folklore other than being a two-tailed cat that has an association with fire.

Rokuro-kubi: People who can extend their necks at night.

Yuki-Onna: Literally translates as snow woman. The spirit of a woman who died in a snowstorm who leads people astray in snowstorms, freezes them to death, or breaks into their home and kills them in their sleep. They will sometimes spare young or extremely beautiful victims.

Yama-Uba: An old woman who inhabits forests and eats lost travelers.

Hyakki Yako: Translates as Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. An event where every year on a summer night, yokai have a parade through the streets. Anyone who comes across this is said to die.


	7. The Dark Age

--

"Breathe in," Giles instructed.

Buffy complied, the feeling of Tenseiga in her lap becoming less noticeable. Though she had her eyes closed, she could tell exactly where Giles was based entirely on sound.

"Breath out."

Buffy exhaled. Thanks to these meditative techniques, she had begun to better utilize her yoki.

She opened her eyes suddenly as she heard footsteps quickly approaching from outside.

"Somebody's in trouble," she said, standing up "they're heading for the door fast."

Without another word she headed to the door with Giles right behind. She flung the door open to reveal a man with a briefcase walking quickly toward her.

"Philip?" Giles asked from behind her, "What are you doing here?"

"Rupert," Philip replied, a bit breathless, "It's Eyghon."

Buffy heard Giles inhale sharply, but also heard someone or something approaching from the darkness. A whiff of rotten flesh suggested it was at one time a someone and was now a something. Slowly it walked out into the light, a woman with rotten flesh.

"Philip," she said, "Rupert. And Ryuk, I was especially looking forward to seeing you again."

"Diedre," Giles and Philip said simultaneously.

"Great, so we know everyone's names," Buffy said, "Now what's the deal here, Giles? Zombie?"

"Ah…" Giles was still a bit speechless, "She's a corpse animated by a demon."

"Okay, undeadness I can handle," she replied, drawing Tenseiga from its sheath.

She rushed forward and with a leap brought the glowing blade down on Diedre's head. The rotting woman instantly melted into a puddle of green goo. A weird mist swirled over the puddle before dissolving into dust. Buffy sheathed her sword and turned back to Giles.

"Well, the forces of darkness are defeated again," she said, "So can I please go home now?"

"Yes, of course," Giles said, still seeming a little agitated, "Philip and I should catch up."

"Bye."

Buffy made a careful leap across the goo puddle and headed out into the dark streets of Sunnydale. She felt oddly at peace as she made her way home. The quiet darkness was somewhat comforting now that she knew the things that go bump weren't likely to pose a threat to her. The other citizens of Sunnydale however…

"Help! Someone please help me!" a feminine voice called out

Buffy immediately took a sharp left and rushed toward the voice. Scenery blurred by her as she traveled a bit faster than would be prudent to make people believe she was just an ordinary girl. At the end of her path she found herself in front of one of the smaller of Sunnydale's churches, remarkable only in its lack of anything remarkable about it.

Two figures stood before her, a vampire with his game face on who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen and a girl who looked to be about the same age who was struggling to get away from him. The boy had a fairly dark skin with unruly dark hair, while the girl appeared to be Asian with short cropped hair. Both were wearing clothing that was definitely about a decade or two out of style, but the vampire had a sword sheathed at his waist.

Buffy placed her hand on Tenseiga's hilt and adopted a posture that conveyed boredom.

"It never ends around here," Buffy complained.

"Please help me!" the girl shouted.

"Okay, let's go over what you two did wrong," Buffy said condescendingly, "One: the clothes are a dead giveaway that you have no idea how kids dress nowadays. Seriously, when were you turned? The early eighties? Two: if you had really wanted to kill her, your fangs would already be in her neck. Your average teenage girl isn't strong enough to hold off a vamp for long. Then we arrive at number three: I can smell you and you both reek of vampiry-ness."

The two of them exchanged a quick glance before they both dropped the pretense. The girl put on her game face as they had a two on one staring contest with Buffy.

"Who are you?" the boy asked suspiciously.

"What, you mean this wasn't a nefarious trap to get the Slayer?" Buffy asked.

"The Slayer is already here?"

"Yeah, she's standing right here in front of you, in case you didn't notice."

"You are not the Slayer," he insisted, "The Slayer is dark skinned. Unless you are the other we heard about."

"Yahiko-chan," the girl said in Japanese, "Let's just kill her. We still need to get some food for the others."

"In a minute, Tsubame-chan," he replied in Japanese, then he went back to English, "Can you use that sword?"

He indicated Tenseiga. Buffy nodded.

"Yeah," she replied in Japanese, "But you were about find that out anyway."

"You speak our language?"

"A kitsune taught me," she said casually, "Now let's get this over with, I don't want to get in past curfew on a school night and get grounded because a couple vamps were feeling chatty."

She drew Tenseiga from its sheath and adopted a basic stance she had learned from Giles. It was actually a stance for fighting with a Western sword, but a few training sessions had allowed them to adapt it. The best part had been that since Tenseiga can't harm the living, she hadn't needed to hold back at all during training. Yahiko made no movement for his sword.

Buffy, not feeling particularly like having a fair fight, charged with a burst of superhuman speed. Her blade left a trail of blue light in its wake. Within an instant her sword was on its inevitable course to his head.

With speed rivaling Buffy's own, Yahiko's hand shot up and grabbed her blade. Had she been using a regular sword, this probably would've worked. However, grabbing the instant vampire dusting Tenseiga turned out to be a very bad idea for him. The only thing he had time to do was widen his eyes in shock as he turned to dust.

Buffy turned to face his girlfriend. The vampire girl, probably realizing that she was far outmatched, turned tail and tried to get away. Buffy prepared to give chase when something leapt out of the shadows in front of Tsubame. The female vampire collapsed into dust, revealing a black girl holding a stake.

"You wouldn't happen to be the other Slayer they were talking about, would you?" Buffy asked as she approached the girl.

"D'ere is only one Slayer," the girl replied, her accent indicating a possibly Jamaican origin, "Who are you?"

"I'm Buffy, and you are?"

"Kendra, da Vampire Slayer," she replied.

Buffy sighed and studied the girl. As far as she knew, there was only one Slayer at a time. Still, she couldn't dismiss the possibility that her recent non-humaness had screwed up the Slayer line of succession somehow. Even if she wasn't another Slayer, the girl seemed to know her way around a stake.

"C'mon, we better go talk to my Watcher. Maybe he'll know what's going on."

--

Drusilla ghosted her way around the table in the center of the main room of the warehouse. She placed dirty and cracked china on it, arranging everything just so. Spike watched her, trying to discern some possible meaning from this. Finding none, he decided to just ask.

"Dru, love," he said as he walked to her side, "May I ask what you're doing?"

Drusilla ignored him for the moment, intent on making sure the last place setting was just right.

"There, now our guests will feel ever so welcome," she said.

"What guests?" Spike asked.

"Our old friends," Drusilla said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Miss Edith was being ever so naughty, but before I could properly punish her I heard the stars whispering. They're coming soon to put the Slaye in the dirt."

Spike wrapped the mad vampiress in an embrace and nuzzled affectionately at her face.

"Who's coming Drusilla?" he asked, "Can they really kill the Slayer?"

"Blood clings to him like a second skin," she replied, "There was fire and screaming everywhere and he cut them down like wheat. Do you remember Spike? We drank the Slayer's blood and Daddy went away."

"You mean it's someone we met during the Boxer Rebellion? You'll have to be a bit more specific. There were a lot of us there enjoying the carnage."

"His eyes were like blades, cutting deep into everything. He sliced and sliced until there was nothing left. I wanted to touch his face. That scar with such a story to tell."

"Wait, do you mean the red haired bloke with the cross-shaped scar and the fancy sword tricks?"

"Yeah," Drusilla said simply.

"So when can we expect our Slayer-killing guest?"

"I believe he has already arrived," someone behind them said.

The two vampires turned to see their guests. One was a short, thin man with red hair, a distinctive scar on his face, and a sword sheathed at his waist. Next to him was a tall, slightly muscular man with wild brown hair and a fishbone sticking out of his mouth. The two of them were followed by a beautiful woman with long dark hair. Judging by their clothing, the three of them hadn't been in the country in a decade or two.

"I am sorry to impose," he said, though there was no sincerity in his voice, "I am Kenshin Himura my companions are Sanosuke Sagara and Megumi Takani, in case our names have slipped your mind in the last century. I believe we might be of mutual assistance to one another."

"Yeah? How's that?" Spike asked.

"The Slayer has been pursuing us from the Caribbean. She killed my wife and son and always attacks us during the day. She knows who we are and is very cautious. I know that you also have Slayer troubles and you are experienced with killing them, so I sought you out."

"Wait, there are two Slayers?"

"Yes, if what I have heard is correct."

"Well doesn't this just get more and more interesting? All right, you three can stay here but you better pull your weight."

Kenshin flashed a sadistic smile that seemed so…wrong on his face.

"I do not believe that will be an issue."

--

After a brief introduction and Philip taking his leave so that Giles could take care of this official business, the two Slayers and Giles got down to real discussion.

"So, you mind explaining how this happened?" Buffy asked.

"It must be because you died while facing the Master," Giles replied, "Apparently it doesn't matter how long a Slayer is dead, just that she dies."

"You died?" Kendra asked incredulously.

"I got better," Buffy replied, "Plus I got this nifty sword out of it so it's totally cool."

"It is very impressive," Kendra said, "I would like to know how it works, but first I believe d'at I must report why I am here. I am hunting a vampire: Kenshin Himura."

Giles paled.

"You mean Hitokiri Battousai?"

Kendra nodded gravely, "Da very same."

"Wait, wait," Buffy interjected, "Hitokiri means manslayer. So who's this Battousai the Manslayer guy?"

"He was a hero of the Boshin War, a civil war in Japan that restored the emperor to power, who became a wanderer and vowed never to kill again as penance for all the lives he took. Eventually he settled down and was turned at some point afterwards. He is extremely dangerous and has been glutting himself on carnage in East Asia for the good part of the last century. Only in the last few decades have there been reports of him and his group in the western hemisphere."

"Me Watcher warned me not to underestimate him, so I have been attacking during da day and using sneak tactics," she said, then looked a bit ashamed, "Mr. Zabuto said it would be fine, but it felt wrong."

"Don't worry Kendra, you did the right thing in keeping yourself alive," Giles said, "I think perhaps I should contact the Council and let them know what's going on so that they can send any information they have on Battousai."

"I better call home," Buffy said, "I was supposed to be finished with my 'report' a while go."

Buffy moved to get the phone while Giles continued to speak with Kendra. She picked it up and dialed her number, ignoring Kendra and Giles's shared laughter at some comment Giles had made. The phone rang a couple times before someone picked up.

"Hello?" he mother said.

"Hey Mom, it's Buffy."

"Oh, I though you would be on your way home by now."

"Yeah, well Mr. Giles's niece is in town and the two of us just sort of lost track of time with all the girl talk. But I'll be home soon."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

"Later Mom."

--

Cordelia tossed fitfully in her sleep. Strange images flashed through her dreams. They weren't the nightmarish images of before, but they weren't exactly pleasant either. She finally awoke with a racing heart covered in sweat. Sleep had become a precious commodity recently.

She carefully slipped out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. She got a glass out of the cabinet and filled it under the tap. She drank it slowly, savoring the cool feeling.

"When I find out who's responsible for this, I'll slay you myself," she growled.

"That's not very nice," a voice-her own voice-replied.

"Who's there?!" Cordelia demanded, ready to make a run for it.

A figure stepped out of the shadows. A figure that looked exactly like Cordelia dressed in some kind of black belly dancer outfit that Cordelia would never be caught dead in.

"Hi, I'm Kira," the look-alike said.

"Oh god, you're like my evil twin, aren't you? You're going to try to kill me and take my place or something. Well let me tell you, I'm friends with the Slayer and as soon as she figures you out she'll kick your ass back to wherever you came from."

"Calm down, I'm not your evil twin and I'm not here to kill you. I guess you could say I am you, only from a parallel universe. I need your help."

"Have you been the one giving me those messed up dreams?"

"Yes, I was attempting to communicate with you, but obviously I wasn't making much headway on that front."

"And you couldn't just talk to me because?"

"I'm dead and I ended up here on the Hellmouth after I got killed thanks to a friend of mine. Anyway, I've only recently been able to appear like this. But enough chit-chat. I have deal to offer you. I'll give you eternal youth and clairvoyance in exchange for half of your humanity."

"Um, what?"

"Maybe I phrased that poorly. I will exchange half of my demon essence for half of your human essence. You become a half-demon and I get reborn in my universe as a half-demon. We go our separate ways with equal powers."

"Why would you do this? More importantly, why should I trust you?"

"I'm doing this because I want to live and feel like you humans do. You have no idea what it feels like to never feel anything. It's hell. And I can't really give you a reason to trust me, but I have to warn you that without this power, more people will die than if you have it."

"Right, I'm just going to believe the demon who wants half of my soul."

"Essence. There's a difference. Not a huge difference, but it's significant. Tell you what, I'll let you think it over for a while. I think in the end you'll agree. But for now I have an insane vampire to torment so that she doesn't see what's really going on in this town. Bye."

With a wave, Kira disappeared. Cordelia poured the remains of her water into the sink and placed the glass in it. She made her way back to bed, pushing all thoughts of what had just happened out of her head, and had a peaceful night's sleep.

--

A/N: I thought Kendra's dialogue would be fun to write. I was wrong. If anyone has any advice about improving, pleas let me know.


End file.
